Cover

Contents

Acknowledgements

Abbreviations and acronyms

Introduction

Notes

Part I: Iran and the USA

1 | The American mind

The common ground between Iran and the West

Neo-conservatism

The American mind

National catharsis

Reliance on force, not diplomacy

Rational blueprints

Moral superiority

American self-righteousness

Manichaeism

‘Illusions’

‘Popular support’

Using questionable means

Ethical intervention

Notes

2 | Iran and international terror

‘Elements within the regime’

Operations against exiled dissidents

Iranian hostility to Israel

Hezbollah

Israeli targets

Military supplies and training

Iran and Al Qaeda

Proving the Iranian-Al Qaeda connection

Allegations of double standards

Notes

3 | The other domino effect

Iran and Afghanistan

Iran and Afghanistan: US allegations

The role of the Revolutionary Guards’ Qods force

Military operations in Kurdistan

US allegations of Iranian interference in Iraq

Iran and SCIRI

Unanswered questions about the US approach

Notes

4 | An Iranian bomb?

The West’s nightmare scenario

How Iran has built its nuclear programme

Unanswered questions about Iran’s nuclear programme

Iran’s missile programme

Covert attempts to acquire nuclear materials

Has US policy aggravated the crisis?

Notes

Part II: Domestic Crisis

5 | Political tensions

Democracy and the Iranian constitution

Khomeini’s arguments

The paradox of Persian political power

Constitutional crisis 2002-03

The Iranian parliament

Judicial harassment of the press and dissidents

The rule of law

Intellectual disputes

The pending crisis

The effects of US intervention

Frustration with the political process

Notes

6 | Social and economic malaise

Some signs of economic distress

Economic problems

The lack of a political consensus

The lack of democracy

US sanctions

Notes

Part III: Outcomes

7 | Popular uprising

Washington and ‘popular protest’

Iran’s historic vulnerability to street power

Student protests, July 1999

New influences

Some difficulties of Washington’s approach

Foreign support

SANAM: misjudging its importance?

The radical tradition of Iranian Azerbaijan

Separatism within Iran?

Notes

8 | Dissidents

Washington and the Mujahideen-e Khalq (MKO)3

Military effectiveness

What’s wrong with US support for the MKO

‘Terrorism’

Allegations of bribery

Effect on Iranian politics

The lack of armed opposition to the regime

The Iranian security apparatus

Notes

Conclusion

The way forward

Notes

Select bibliography

Articles

Index