The huge gap between Tehran and Washington has widened in recent
months. Top officials of Iran and the United States are not even
within shouting distance. The styles of rhetoric differ, but the
messages in both directions are filled with hostility.
While visiting Iran’s capital in early summer, during the home
stretch of the presidential campaign, I was struck by paradoxes. From
all appearances, most Iranians despise the U.S. government but love
Americans. Repression, imposed from above, coexists with freedom
taken from below. The press is largely dogmatic, but some media
outlets show appreciable independence.
I was fascinated to observe a rally of 10,000 people who gathered in
a Tehran stadium to vocally support a reform candidate for the
presidency, Mostafa Moin. One speaker after another called for
political freedom. The Tehran Times reported that Moin was promoting
“a Democracy and Human Rights Front in Iran to defend the rights of
all Iran’s religious and ethnic groups, the youth, academicians,
women, and political opposition groups.”
That seems like a long time ago. The Moin campaign didn’t make it