Shah Mat (The King is helpless), or more commonly Checkmate. The Kings in this instance are the Western Alliance playing black and Iran playing white. What is the current state of the board?
Having started aggressively with the Sykes/Picot gambit just over a century ago, black rapidly appeared to exert control over board with major pieces controlling the board (Western aliiance bases and client regimes). This control appeared further consolidated when they took control of the Palestine square of the board completely decades later. The battle to control the whole board however, lies in Tehran and it has been fiercely contested ever since, going to and fro between black/white control.
In 1979, white wrested back control of the Iran squares of the board forcing the fake Shah(in place since 1953 when black wrested temporary control from white) to retreat whilst his rooks/bishops/knights (the Savak) were removed from the board permanently. Since then White has been under constant attack but has turned many pawns into major pieces (missile program, defence industry etc.) Those early gains of black following Sykes Picot now look indefensible weak points rather than strong forward consolidated positions. Blacks seeming advantage is underpinned by many increasingly threatened and vulnerable major pieces. Bahrain, UAE and others looking more and more likely to be lost. Black is under attack in several positions and making forced moves now. Leads to zugzwang, leads to Shah Mat.
The chess analogies are apt. Iran invented it, hence Shah Mat.
