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Local takes, larger issues

Iran’s intentions: Iran has been making headlines lately because of escalating allegations on the part of U.S. officials that elements the Iranian government and other subversive groups within the country have been lending their support and influence to the continuing war in Iraq. Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has also declared his country’s ambivalence about the rights of Israel and its intentions to pursue nuclear capabilities. All of this puts Iran squarely at odds with the United States and our interests in the Middle East. What do you think?

I don’t think the president and his administration have learned from their mistakes in Iraq and I think what’s most frustrating from my perspective as someone who follows current events and studies political science is that they ask for input, like they create the Iraq Studies Commission and one of their recommendations… was we need to engage in diplomatic talks with Syria and Iran and they just completely ignore it. They basically give it lip service so it’s like, I don’t see what the point is. It just seems like, to quote Yogi Berra, it’s déjà vu all over again.
– Brian Giulieri, Metro political science student

I don’t think…. Iran wants necessarily to meddle in the U.S. affairs, but it seems like they are very interested in meddling, if you will, in other Middle Eastern countries, particularly Iraq, affairs. I think that’s where they are more focused on. Iran and Iraq have always had a long standing dispute with each other so I see Iran stirring things up definitely in the Middle East, particularly with Iraq. Obviously they have an effect on the whole region and the U.S.’s interests in it. Do I think they are a direct threat to the U.S.? Not directly. I think they are indirectly a threat though because they are a threat to stabilizing the whole region.
– Jennifer Garza, Metro associate professor of history