Liviagray
Jun 20th, 2009, 06:53 AM
By JOHN F. BURNS
Published: June 19, 2009
LONDON — When Ayatollah Ali Khamenei used his speech at Friday Prayer in Tehran to denounce Britain as “the most evil” of Iran’s enemies, he was striking a chord with a deep resonance in the psyche of Iranians, the legacy of a long history of British imperial intrusions into their country’s affairs.
Singling out Britain, and not the “great Satan” of the United States, so often the bugaboo for Iran’s leadership since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, might seem an odd choice for Iran’s supreme leader, when the government he leads faces its greatest crisis in 30 years.
But British scholars on Iran said Ayatollah Khamenei’s attack on Britain was characteristic of a Tehran leadership that resorts under pressure to a mix of crude stereotypes that play well at home. They said it might also reflect a concern not to slam the door opened by President Obama, who is offering a new dialogue in his search for a diplomatic solution to the impasse over Iran’s nuclear program.
If that were the calculation, Ayatollah Khamenei may have correctly concluded that going after Britain would cost Iran little, judging by the carefully hedged response to the Tehran speech by Britain’s prime minister, Gordon Brown. At a European summit meeting in Brussels, Mr. Brown noted the ayatollah’s speech, but offered only a modest sharpening of Britain’s previous admonitions to Tehran’s leaders over their handling of the election crisis.
Still, Mr. Khamenei’s attack on Britain surprised some scholars. Ali Ansari, a professor of Iranian history at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, said the attack suggested that Mr. Khamenei might be more beholden to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the official winner of the presidential election, than many Iran experts had thought. Animosity toward Britain is strongest among the working class and agrarian Iranians — Mr. Ahmadinejad’s political base, he said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/20/world/middleeast/20britain.html?th&emc=th
Published: June 19, 2009
LONDON — When Ayatollah Ali Khamenei used his speech at Friday Prayer in Tehran to denounce Britain as “the most evil” of Iran’s enemies, he was striking a chord with a deep resonance in the psyche of Iranians, the legacy of a long history of British imperial intrusions into their country’s affairs.
Singling out Britain, and not the “great Satan” of the United States, so often the bugaboo for Iran’s leadership since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, might seem an odd choice for Iran’s supreme leader, when the government he leads faces its greatest crisis in 30 years.
But British scholars on Iran said Ayatollah Khamenei’s attack on Britain was characteristic of a Tehran leadership that resorts under pressure to a mix of crude stereotypes that play well at home. They said it might also reflect a concern not to slam the door opened by President Obama, who is offering a new dialogue in his search for a diplomatic solution to the impasse over Iran’s nuclear program.
If that were the calculation, Ayatollah Khamenei may have correctly concluded that going after Britain would cost Iran little, judging by the carefully hedged response to the Tehran speech by Britain’s prime minister, Gordon Brown. At a European summit meeting in Brussels, Mr. Brown noted the ayatollah’s speech, but offered only a modest sharpening of Britain’s previous admonitions to Tehran’s leaders over their handling of the election crisis.
Still, Mr. Khamenei’s attack on Britain surprised some scholars. Ali Ansari, a professor of Iranian history at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, said the attack suggested that Mr. Khamenei might be more beholden to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the official winner of the presidential election, than many Iran experts had thought. Animosity toward Britain is strongest among the working class and agrarian Iranians — Mr. Ahmadinejad’s political base, he said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/20/world/middleeast/20britain.html?th&emc=th