(Commentary) Michael Rubin - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's sincerity is extremely unclear. As reported by AEI on Sept. 17, Rouhani suggested creating a commission "to pursue spiritual and material compensation" from the U.S. and UK for their role in the 1953 coup against Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq. Putting aside whether the coup was wise or not given the Cold War context, the simple fact is that the Iranian clergy was complicit in the coup and, indeed, had made an alliance of convenience with the U.S., British, and Iranian military. That Rouhani wants the U.S. to pay Iran for the 1953 coup which his teachers and predecessors supported shows just how manipulative and insincere he is in his populist games in Tehran and Washington. The writer is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
2013-09-23 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive