The 1979 Islamic Revolution was as world-changing a revolution as those of France in 1789 and Russia in 1917 and the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, heralding a new era of Islamist mobilization across the entire Middle East that promoted a Sunni as well as Shiite radicalization as well as establishing a theo-monarchical dictatorship and a repressive Iranian state hostile to America and Israel and later forging an informal (and shortlived) Iranian empire – sometimes known as the ‘Shiite crescent.’ An Iranian Revolution in 2026 will be just as momentous = a decisive world changing event as important as 1789, 1917, 1979 and 1991. It is one that would resonate across the world, leading to other revolutions: Prince Metternich said ‘when France sneezes, the rest of Europe catches cold” meaning that when a revolution struck Paris, the whole of Europe shook. Repeatedly revolutions in France sparked revolutions all over Europe – particularly in 1848. In the so called Arab Spring of 2011, we saw a similar phenomenum when a revolution in Tunisia spread to Egypt, the most populous Arab state, and that led to protests all over the region including in Iran. Just as the Khomeini revolution of 1979 sparked Islamist violence all over the Middle East so its downfall in 2026 would rebound in all sorts of unexpected ways and would not only completely change the geopolitics of the Middle East – a process that has already started – but would lead to revolutions elsewhere too. It would be a boost to the Open World of the liberal democracies, a blow to China-Russia’s Closed World and the infection of revolution could spread across hemispheres. Would it spark revolution in the already-flimsy Castroista Communist regime in Cuba which is bankrupt and sclerotic? Would it lead to protests against the Turkish Sunni Islamist autocracy of President Erdogan which is unpopular and increasingly repressive even as, like Iran a few ago, it enjoys success abroad? What if it spread to Russia? That will certainly on Vladimir Putin’s mind. He has also faced the threat of popular protests against his dictatorship and he himself was threatened by the sight of the Libyan ruler Muammar Kadaffi being lynched and killed on camera and that of another ally, Bashar Assad, would spark revolutions against autocrats that could spread to Russia. It was one of the reasons he intervened to save Assad in Syria, an intervention that he launched in conjunction with Iran and its vassal militia, Hezbollah and one that saved the Assad dynasty for several years. As momentous as any of these richochets, the greatest could be this: after the failure of the Islamist paradigm, from the long disaster of Iranian dictatorship and its proxy vassals Hamas and Hezbollah, this may also end this era of Islamism or at least diminish its allure.