In North Tehran, Iran, immediately after the attacks of 9/11, thousands took to the streets in a protest against terrorism, in solidarity with the United States of America. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khameni spoke publicly against the attacks, stating clearly that "...mass killing is wrong..."
During Friday prayers that week, for the first time since the Iranian Revolution in 1979, the "Death the America" prayers in mosques were halted; this decision was made at the highest levels of Iranian government, directly from the office of the reformer President Mohammed Khatami. Iran went as far as playing a constructive role in the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan; they worked closely with the Northern Alliance, their Shiite religious neighbors, in toppling the extremist Sunni regime in Kabul.
On January 29, 2002, President Bush, in his State of the Union address, labeled Iran as a state sponsor of terror, and branded them a member of the Axis of Evil, along with Iraq and North Korea. In response, American flags were burned in the streets of Tehran the next day, and the pro-American regime was stripped of all credibility in the eyes of both the Iranian people and ruling Clerics. The Reformists, who had worked so hard to get a toehold in the hard line Iranian Government, were shocked. "The very least expectations that we had, at the height of our struggles for real reform, was not to be branded like this...politically, it was an odd thing to do," said former Vice President, Mohammed Ali Abtahi.
Searing rhetoric soon blasted from loudspeakers in public squares, deriding the long time enemy of the Islamic Revolution. Relations have steadily deteriorated since, coming to the point of nuclear brinkmanship and further destabilization of the Middle East.
9/11 was a moment in time that was both devastating and yet held a unique promise; a brief point where empty hatreds of the past could be wiped away, and a new, positive and promising future could be shaped. This moment was crushed in the machinery of the neoconservative ideology, an ideology that was both hegemonic in design and disastrous in implementation.
See this example as a microcosm for relations the world over; the administration charged with steering United States policy subsequently drove it into a ditch; partnership and sympathy has turned to loathing and distrust; and in a vital period of globalization, we have been turned into an island on the world stage. It is vital to observe the critical moments of history, study, and learn from both their mistakes and successes. Comprehending the dynamics and forces of relations throughout the world directly correlates to an understanding of our place in the world, and our country itself.
