Understanding the US-Iran Crisis: A Primer

Senator John McCain turns a classic Beach Boys song into "Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran" and receives his party's nomination for president. What is it about relations between the United States and Iran that render such posturing acceptable? Is Iran a serious threat to the United States? Is it building nuclear weapons and funding terrorists? Phyllis Bennis's primer looks at international assessments of Iran's nuclear program and gives a brief history of relations between Iran and the United States, and between Iran and its neighbors in the Middle East. Bennis's analysis provides a counterweight to the Bush administration's aggressive stance on Iran, giving voice to diplomats and activists concerned with stopping the cycle of violence across the region.