以色列与伊朗，这对中东地区的 “冤家”，近期冲突愈演愈烈，局势剑拔弩张。究竟是什么让两国从曾经的亲密无间，走向如今的兵戎相见？
Iran sits between Iraq and Afghanistan and is home to 81.8 million people.
For centuries the area was known as Persia, originally called that by the Greeks as early as the fifth century BCE.
The middle east is a diverse region populated with Arabs, Kurds, Turks, and many others.
Descendants of Indo-Iranian people called Aryans, a term appropriated by the Nazi party, Persians are one of those distinct ethnic groups.
For thousands of years Persia was ruled by dynasties.
That changed when military commander Reza Khan came to power in 1921 as Prime Minister via a military coup.
Then he was crowned Shah, the Persian term for King in 1925.
Reza Shah's push towards rapid modernization of the country included equalizing access to education for women, and issuing strict decrees about modernizing dress.
And in 1935 Reza Shah changed the country's name to Iran to reflect its people's Aryan heritage.
But these changes were sudden, and rubbed those who lived more traditional and religious lifestyles the wrong way.
