In the Neo-Elamite period, Elam faced deep internal weakness and crises that made it more vulnerable than ever. Constant court intrigues led to the assassination and deposition of Elamite kings; to the point where three kings from one dynasty were removed from power one after another due to internal conspiracies and popular revolts. This instability prevented the adoption of a sound policy against foreign enemies and was a sign of Elam's great weakness in the middle of the first millennium BCE.
Elam's foreign policy during this period also came into sharp conflict with the powerful state of Assyria. From the time of Humban-nikash and his successors, Elam was embroiled in a war of attrition with the Assyrian state. The Elamite kings fought for several years with the Assyrian king Sargon II and supported the Babylonian prince Marduk-apla-iddina II. This policy was very costly for Elam and in practice did not yield much benefit for them; rather, the pressures exerted by the Assyrians also added to Elam's internal crisis.
The peak of these conflicts was the relentless attacks of Ashurbanipal, the bloodthirsty king of Assyria. He conducted numerous campaigns against Elam and its neighbors and succeeded in destroying the remnants of the Elamite army and capturing its cities. These attacks brought Elam to its knees and dealt a fatal blow to one of the oldest civilizations in the region.
The most tragic part of these attacks was the destruction of the city of Susa, one of the most important and ancient cities of Elam. Ashurbanipal, with utter brutality, plundered and destroyed the city. In his own inscription, Ashurbanipal described the end of Susa with horrific detail, boasting of the complete destruction of temples, the looting of treasures, and the eradication of any sign of life there. He stated in his tablet: "I, Susa, the great holy city, I conquered by the will of the gods Ashur and Ishtar. I entered its palaces, I opened their treasuries where silver and gold, goods and wealth were amassed... I destroyed the ziggurat of Susa. I smashed its shining copper horns. I reduced the temples of Elam to naught; their gods and goddesses I scattered to the winds. The tombs of their ancient and recent kings I devastated... I laid waste to the province of Elam and on their lands I sowed salt. I took away the daughters and wives... From now on, no one will hear the sound of human joy or the tread of cattle and sheep in Elam." These words show the depth of the Assyrians' hatred and destructiveness towards their long-standing enemy.
This tragedy was a clear embodiment of the cycle of violence and revenge in ancient history. Just as the Assyrians, with complete ruthlessness, destroyed cities and civilizations and enslaved peoples, a similar fate awaited them. These very behaviors and the accumulated hatred from the subjugated nations eventually led to widespread rebellions and the alliance of their enemies. Less than a decade after the destruction of Elam by Ashurbanipal, just as with that violence, the capitals of Assyria also tasted the bitter destruction. Nineveh and Ashur, the heart of the savage Assyrian Empire, were engulfed in fire and blood and were destroyed. This relentless cycle of conquest and destruction had exhausted the people of the region, bringing suffering and ruin, and the need for a new order, based on peace and tolerance, was felt more than ever. This legacy of violence was what set the stage for the emergence of Cyrus II, a ruler with a policy of tolerance and lasting peace, a messiah for different nations.
Following Ashurbanipal's attacks and the capture of Susa, the power of Elam sharply declined, and Elam was no longer considered a major power in the region. It was during this period that the Persians, who had likely been rulers of Anshan since the time of Teispes, took advantage of the Elamites' weakness and completely captured the region of Anshan. Although Elam continued its semi-independent existence in the mountains after these attacks, it lacked the power to transform itself once again into a great force in the region. This was the end of an era for a civilization with thousands of years of history on the Iranian plateau. After the destruction of Assyria, Susa also gradually came under the control of the Persians, and the remaining Elamites submitted to the Persian kings. Thus, the historical rule of Elam was completely extinguished, and its legacy was integrated into the emerging Achaemenid civilization.