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Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12606/tehran-lobbyists
How Tehran Lobbyists Mislead Opinion in the West
(Gatestone Institute) Amir Taheri - Successive American presidents have worked hard to persuade the Khomeinist regime in Tehran to modify aspects of its foreign policy, so far with no success. Iran's "Supreme Guide," Ali Khamenei, has said: "American rulers have always dreamed of forcing us to change our behavior, and failed. Five U.S. administrations took that dream to their graves. The present one shall have the same fate." As a nation-state, Iran has no problems with anybody. As a vehicle for the Khomeinist ideology it has problems with everybody, starting with the Iranian people. The Khomeinist regime makes no secret of its intense hatred for Iranian culture. To admire this regime because of Iranian culture is like admiring Hitler for Goethe and Beethoven and praising Stalin for Pushkin and Tchaikovsky. This regime has executed tens of thousands of Iranians, driven almost 6 million into exile, and deprived the nation of its basic freedoms. It has also killed more Americans, often through surrogates, than al-Qaeda did on 9/11. The writer was the executive editor-in-chief of the Iran daily Kayhan from 1972 to 1979.