Once again, the war drums are beating in the Middle East. Iran has vowed revenge for the death of a leading nuclear scientist, the second assassination of a high-ranking Iranian official this year.
As tensions flare, it is easy to get lost in the inflammatory rhetoric, violence and on-again, off-again diplomacy that define U.S.-Iran relations. As a result, many observers have lost sight of the driving forces behind the Iranian regime’s animosity towards the United States.
A long history of American and foreign meddling in Iran is seared into the Persian psyche. And yet, the Iranian public remains remarkably pro-American; a testament to a nuanced perspective that separates the American people from the actions of its government. Iran’s religious hardliners – the crowd that incites chants of “Death to America” – have also made this distinction.
