Iranians who lived through both the revolution and the Iran-Iraq war have seen this before. Escalating rhetoric, brandishing of sabers, then suddenly life just sucks for years on end.
Before the revolution Iran was a pretty secular place but the mullahs clamped down on that. Then the eight-year long war against Iraq added tragedy and privation to the existing repression. Read the entire article. In it, a few ordinary Iranian citizens express their unease about the near future exclusively in economic terms.
"One thing is obvious: If more foreigners come to this country, it means more
money, more jobs," said Ahmad Ashuri, whose business making metal screens
has declined in recent months along with Tehran's construction industry.
"But this nuclear issue means fewer foreigners are coming to the country.
Less money. "If something is our right, we need to talk properly to the
world."
Iranians do see the peaceful use of nuclear power to be their right, and if the question is framed that way its hard to argue with. Does the average Iranian believe that the most important consequences of this situation are economic only? With the testing of the new Shahab-4, Ahmadinejad's rhetoric, and Iran's long running and well-established support for terrorist organizations its hard for me to take the Iranian president's word on the peaceful thing, though. Nowhere in the article though is mention made of the source of western fears; namely that the nuclear research in Iran is meant for the production of nuclear weapons and not electricity. I'd really like to hear what the "Iranian Street" has to say about nuclear weaponry.
