Professor Xueqin Jiang never claimed to see the future; he claimed to see patterns. Trained as a teacher and analyst, he treats history like a warning system, not a museum. When he spoke in 2024, his three predictions sounded bold, even extreme. Yet as Trump’s political return and escalating US–Iran frictions began to mirror his forecast, people stopped laughing and started listening.

Jiang’s most unsettling claim is not that a war could come, but that the United States might fail to achieve a clear victory. He points to powerful empires drained by stubborn, smaller opponents who know their terrain, culture, and timing. In his view, Iran has spent years preparing for exactly that kind of drawn-out contest. Whether he is ultimately right or wrong, Jiang forces an uncomfortable reflection: great powers can misread history, but history never stops judging them.