The United States and Iran in Space and Memory

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Pro-government media bias and a profound ignorance of history have caused vehement opposition to Iran among citizens in the United States today. Iran has a record of oppressing women and minorities, committing human right’s violations, mandating political censorship, flirtation with nuclear weapons, and is controlled by a fundamentalist Islāmic government, no doubt; but the nation is not condemned for these reasons. Rather, the United States demonizes Iran to guarantee their strategic interest in the Middle East, and the world at large. Iran’s motivation for their nuclear program cannot be properly understood without knowing the history of this nation in light of United States’ imperialism and Western orientalism. And if the United States genuinely wanted Iran to abandon their nuclear weapons they would abandon their threatening policies and seek negotiations immediately.

The United States and Iran in Space and Memory

In 1953, the United States and the United Kingdom ousted the Iranian parliament and installed a dictator, the Shah, the U.S. agent who ruled with Western support and shocking brutality over the Iranian people until the Islāmic Revolution of 1979. The revolution culminated with a hostage crisis by student protestors demanding that the United States: return the Shah to Iran for trial, return the Shah’s blood money to the Iranian people, end U.S. interference, and apologize. The United States refused and the hostage situation lasted for over 400 days. It should come to no surprise to anybody that the revolution humiliated the United States and that soon after they began to threaten the new Iranian power through careful manipulation of a Middle East power struggle. Ironically, the programs the United States vicio...

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