Arraya: I think Iran is a far simpler problem to handle than North Korea and it’s really a great opportunity for the US to engage them on a variety of levels. A good chunk of the Iranian population is young, well-educated and pro-American. Regardless of my personal feelings about Obama, I would think he’s the perfect guy to sell rapprochement to the Iranian public (not the clergy).
I don’t believe Iran is actively seeking nukes for any reason other than brinksmanship and bargaining with the US. If we continue to bluster about pre-emptive strikes (like Israel did with Osirak in 1981), we risk alienating the Iranian people and galvanizing public opinion against the US, which only helps the hard liners in their quest to demonize the US. If we offer a centrist, middle ground approach, backed by a “commercial” package (and their economy is faltering right now) and engage the populace, I really feel that we’d make significant headway and avert any sort of hostilities.
The upcoming elections are going to be interesting and it appears the wind is blowing in a different direction. It irritates the shit out of me when pundits and commentators refer to Iran as an Arab country. It isn’t, and if we are cognizant of their history and the Persian culture, we might actually wind up with an ally. I know about Mossadegh in 1953, but we have positive history with them as well. Don’t forget about Truman booting the Red Army out of Iran in 1946.
