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Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article5696672.ece
Iran: A Normal Nation or a Vehicle for Universal Messianic Revolution?
[Times-UK] Amir Taheri - Every U.S. president has tried to placate the mullahs, with no success. The reason is that since 1979, Iran has been torn between its reality as a nation state and its dream as the vehicle for a universal messianic revolution. As a nation state, Iran has no objective reason to be an enemy of the U.S., a fact reflected in the abiding popularity that America enjoys among Iranians. As a revolutionary force, however, Iran must regard the U.S. as its No. 1 enemy because the U.S. is the only power capable of resisting the global ambitions of the Khomeinists. Official Iran is not any kinder to Islam than to the West. For the first time in almost 14 centuries, Islam is being scripted out, its place taken by an ersatz faith based on the cult of the "supreme guide," the return of the "hidden imam," and dreams of world conquest. As the embodiment of the Khomeinist revolution, the country is a threat to regional stability and world peace. Obsessed by the concept of "exporting the revolution," the Khomeinist ruling elite devotes vast resources to undermining the established order in neighboring countries. The change of behavior that President Obama has called for could only come when Iran reasserts itself as a normal nation state bound by international law and custom.