Last fall, Iran was on board, cooperating in America’s war on terror, and on Afghanistan. It was a curious sidebar: longtime enemy Iran suddenly seeming like a friend, and a tentative rapproachement apparently speeding up.
Then came allegations of secret nuclear weapons programs, of political tampering in Herat, and finally George Bush’s State of the Union. Iran was declared part of a dire triumvirate, the “Axis of Evil.” Iran’s response was angry and swift, denouncing the speech and the US. Earlier this week, millions rallied in Tehran’s Freedom Square and elsewhere, once again calling America the Great Satan, or at least “extremely naughty.” But it’s not quite back to status quo. Reform and retrenchment, behind the rhetoric of the Axis of Evil.
Guests:
Ali Banuazizi, Professor of History and Cultural Psychology at Boston College
and Azadeh Moaveni, Tehran correspondent for Time magazine.