[lt.america]

This has been pointed out several hundred times before this article, but it boils down to how is the fact that Iranians are Persian seperates them from general Arab politics and mentality? Short answer is it does not, and in fact they are more radical than Iraq today. They are an Islamic Republic and they act as you would expect, often times more juvenile, an Islamic Republic would act.

Good article, means nothing.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

This has been pointed out several hundred times before this article, but it boils down to how is the fact that Iranians are Persian seperates them from general Arab politics and mentality?

It means that Iran is viewed with suspicion and fear by nations like Egypt and Saudi Arabia. They don't see Iran's growing nuclear capability, Iran's proxy war for Lebanon through Hezbollah, and Iran's threats to close the Straits of Hormuz as wins for global Islam - they see them as part of the Persian strategy to dominate the Mideast and the Arab world. Meanwhile, Iranians are not Arabs - they are more Westernized than the average Arab and reportedly the average Iranian doesn't have the kind of hatred for America that Iranian leadership or the average Arab do. There are divisions to be exploited for those who can make the distinction.

[G8 Diplomat]

I agree, but neither I nor this article am saying that just because Iranians aren’t Arabs doesn’t mean we shouldn’t treat them as an enemy (we should), it’s simply correcting out (again) the misconception that Persians are Arabs.