When these prophecies are written, I cannot help but believe that they had already taken place with the Mongols way back when.
But then again, history does repeat itself.
Re: "there seems to be a reason to believe that Persia may be involved in the war against Israel."
It is my understanding that prophecies flat out state that in the last days, a large army from the east which is to include Persia and other countries, is definitely going to surround and attempt an invasion of Israel from the north.
My understanding is also that this is a separate incident related to, but not identical to the first discussion.
Of course, the nice thing about discussing "metaphysics" and "prophecy" is that nobody actually knows what in the hell they're talking about, so we're all on solid ground!!
There does seem to be enough contemporary "anecdotal evidence" taking place right before our eyes and in the news these days to lend credence to these prophetic events.
Prophecy is telling what will happen in the future. Every war mentioned in the prophets is a foretelling of a war in the future. And we do believe that every struggle the Torah discusses will reflect on the future conflict for the Jewish people.