<p>No. 1 - Iranians aren't Arabs. That's mostly the point. They have never identified with Arabs, and, for the most part, practice a religion that is much, much different from their Arab neighbors.</p>
<p>No. 2 - The Iranian people have always had a great love for Americans. When I lived there (under the Shah), virtually every home had a picture of JFK on the wall, next to the Shah. The Shah's picture was obligatory. The JFK picture was their answer to the Shah. Most people had no idea who JFK was or what he stood for. But in their mind, he stood for democracy, and as such, was the opposite of the Shah, with his torture minions (trained in Fort Benning, Georgia) and Secret Police (who had advisors from Fort Benning on-site, as it were.)</p>
<p>No. 3 - Most of the Iranians I knew believed (back in the 70s) that if Americans only knew what was being done in their name to the Iranians, they (the Americans) would rise up and overthrow the government. Not the Iranian government - but the American government. America was the home of democracy and freedom, which must mean the American people were duped, and wouldn't stand for it. This was the reasoning behind the 1979 hostage taking (I knew some of the students.) They just didn't understand.</p>
<p>No. 4 - The crosscurrents in Iranian politics are fascinating. They have had democratic elections for the last two decades, with different parties - with ideologies far further apart from each other than ours -- taking and wielding power, and surrendering power peacefully each time a new election is held. For every conservative mullah there is a liberal one - which is part of the nature of decentralized shiah Islam. And students on all sides.</p>