Ghost of Suez haunts Trump’s Iran war

To a student of Middle Eastern history, the parallels with October 1956 are not merely suggestive — they are, in their essential structure, almost embarrassingly precise. Recall the anatomy of the Suez adventure. Britain and France, chafing at the nationalist pretensions of Gamal Abdel Nasser and the loss of the canal, entered into a secret arrangement with Israel.

The plan was elegantly cynical: Israel would attack Egypt across the Sinai; London and Paris would then “intervene” as ostensible peacemakers, demanding both sides stand down from the canal zone — which they knew Egypt would refuse — thereby furnishing a pretext to seize the waterway themselves.

The justifications offered to the public shifted kaleidoscopically: it was about freedom of navigation; it was about containing Soviet influence; it was about preventing a dangerous authoritarian from acquiring too much power.

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