ATTACK ON IRAN BETWEEN VAIN TRIUMPHALISM AND NEGATIVE HYSTERESIS THE POSSIBLE CONSEQUENCES OF A RECKLESS ACTION If we were to apply the concept of economic hysteresis to the geopolitical situation related to the Israeli–American attack on Iran, we would notice that a military shock does not produce only immediate and visible effects, but also reverberates in the behavior of states even when the crisis subsides. In other words, the international system does not simply return to its previous state: it undergoes a drastic and sometimes counterintuitive structural transformation. This also applies, of course, to the MENA region, where in the future several states may reconsider their trust in Western security guarantees, strengthening their military capabilities and/or seeking new forms of regional cooperation with Sino-Russian actors. If this course of action were to prevail, the efforts made so far by Israeli and U.S. intelligence agencies would become useless, and the entire area ...