US and EU Need a Unified Strategy (GERMANY)

Early this year, celebrations will begin in Iran to mark the 30th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. With such deep discord between Washington and Tehran, it is safe to assume that the two governments will not exchange congratulatory messages. Still affected by the strategic defeat of the 1979 overthrow of the Shah, the United States views the Islamic Republic of Iran as an enemy. It has done so at least since the occupation of the US embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979 and the humiliating 444-day hostage-taking of 52 embassy staff, which included a failed rescue attempt. Since then Iran has shared the top place on the US list of "rogue states" with Libya, Iraq, and North Korea. The United States has made numerous attempts since 1979 to reverse the Islamic Revolution and to bring down the regime that emerged from it -- both directly through support for coups and opposition groups, and indirectly through political and economic sanctions.

But the endurance of this animosity can ultimately only be explained by the Iranian leaders of the revolution choosing the United States as the principal enemy -- the Great Satan. "All the Middle East's problems are caused by the West and America. All Muslims' distresses come from America," said revolutionary leader Ruhollah Khomeini in 1979 to the Islamic Student Association in Qom. At other points he even made the United States the enemy of all mankind: "We, they, all people see America as the greatest enemy."

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