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Source: http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0227/p09s02-coop.htm
Iran's Diplomatic Elite Believe the Time Has Come to Lead the Region
[Christian Science Monitor] Iason Athanasiadis - Iran's political elites are following a nationalist policy that aims at regional dominance. With oil receipts at a record high and the Middle East's third most advanced military after Israel and Turkey, Shiite-led Iran is at its strategic strongest in 30 years. What was briefly dubbed the Sunni Axis, designed to counteract the Shiite Crescent, has collapsed in an outbreak of diplomatic overtures by Sunni-majority states Saudi Arabia and Egypt toward Iran. Meanwhile, in the living rooms of Cairo and Riyadh, the Iranian president's popularity is swelling because he is the only regional leader who dares put into words what ordinary Egyptians and Saudis feel.