Iran refuses to
relent in developing nuclear technology, despite U.N. sanctions. Rumors
persist that Israel is drawing up plans for military strikes. Neither
the emboldened Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad nor the embattled
President Bush has relented in his war of words. How did we get here?
Iran expert Ali Ansari sets the current crisis in the context of a long
history of mutual antagonism. From the overthrow of Mosaddeq in 1953 to
the hostage crisis in 1979 and, more recently, the Gulf War and the War
in Iraq, both Iranian and American politicians have forged conflicting
narratives about an "evil empire" lying half a world away-resulting in a
mutual mistrust that may ultimately lead to war.