Is Iran the Middle East’s Most Logical and Rational Nation?

One does not have to like Iran to note that their foreign policy seems quite carefully conceived and they never go too far that they can’t come back. I thought of this again when reading about Iran refusing Hamas’ entreaty to participate in the 10/7 attacks. They attack Israel, but never too far. If Israel provokes, they hit back, but just a little bit. If they provoke Israel and the latter strikes back, they mostly take it. They fund Israel’s opponents but never really involve themselves too mortally.

Meanwhile, I have a really hard time seeing Israel as anything like a logical acting nation at this point. There’s no point to this endless war except keeping Netanyahu in power. The genocide in Gaza and the open violent theft of land and resources in the West Bank will just destabilize it further going forward. I know the Saudis would like for there to be some kind of deal that would stabilize the situtation and then everyone can make money, but when does that happen at this point?

Again, this is hardly an approval of Iranian policies. But from the sheer fact of self-interest, they sure seem to have their stuff together better than Israel and at least most other countries in the region.