Earthquake reveals seismic shift in Iranian view of US
From Dan de Luce in Tehran
The American doctors and aid workers were welcomed with bouquets of roses, boxes of chocolates and pistachios. They had not expected such warmth from a country labelled by President Bush as a member of the “axis of evil”.
But the tragic earthquake in Bam has shown that the official rhetoric coming out of Iran and the US bears little resemblance to reality.
The first US delegation to set foot on Iranian soil in 25 years has learned that ordinary Iranians are actually some of the most pro-Western, pro-American Muslims in the world. And as physicians from Boston wiped away tears while treating quake victims in a makeshift hospital, the theocratic regime’s paranoid portrayal of the Great Satan seemed particularly ridiculous.
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