Thomas Buonomo, rudaw.net
Image from article, with caption: An official handout photo showing Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei addressing his country's ambassadors and top diplomats in Tehran, Nov. 2015.
Excerpt:
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei frequently warns Iranian officials and the Iranian public in his speeches that the United States is constantly attempting to infiltrate Iran through political and cultural channels. He argues that no concession from Iran is likely to change the US’s ostensibly implacable hostility against it, short of Iran ceding its sovereignty and Islamic identity. ...
A review of the US’s relations with Iran’s regional neighbors demonstrates that although it would prefer that these governments provide greater political representation as well as social and cultural freedom --understanding how important these values are, both inherently and in terms of their implications for the stability of these countries and their markets -- the US’s ability to influence their behavior is actually quite limited. ...
The US has ... admonished Saudi Arabia ad nauseum [sic] about the need for reform to no avail. Unfortunately it is not so simple a matter to abandon a government that produces roughly 9.6 million barrels per day (b/d) of the world’s approximately 96 million b/d demand to the fates, as Iran would like the US to do. The US may have a strong distaste for the Wahhabis but it is also wary of what they might be capable of doing to the US and global economy in their death throes. Better to manage the problem and counter it through cultural and public diplomacy initiatives than risk inadvertently making it worse, the U.S. foreign policy establishment’s consensus appears to be. ...
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