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Source: http://nypost.com/2015/07/19/what-us-leaders-have-never-understood-about-iran/
What U.S. Leaders Have Never Understood about Iran
(New York Post) Amir Taheri - "American rulers have always dreamed of forcing us to change our behavior, and failed," Iran's "Supreme Guide," Ali Khamenei, said Saturday. "Five U.S. administrations took that dream to their graves. The present one shall have the same fate." Earlier this month, President Obama officially recognized the Islamic Republic as a threshold nuclear state in exchange for dubious concessions by Tehran that have not yet even been endorsed by Khamenei, who has every intention of ignoring them at the first opportunity. As a people and a culture, Iran is immensely attractive. But the Khomeinist regime makes no secret of its intense hatred for Iranian culture, which it claims has roots in "the age of ignorance." To admire this regime because of Iranian culture is like admiring Hitler for Goethe and Beethoven. This regime has executed tens of thousands of Iranians, driven almost 6 million into exile, and deprived the nation of its basic freedoms. And not a single day has passed without this regime holding some American hostages. Iran as a nation is a solid friend of America. Iran as a vehicle for the Khomeinist revolution is an eternal enemy. The only realistic strategy for the U.S. would be to help it stop being the Islamic Republic and become Iran again. The writer was executive editor-in-chief of the Iranian daily Kayhan from 1972 to 1979.