Abbas Amanat

You're opening a new can of worms that it takes another three hours of conversation.

Just three hours?

At least.

What I can tell you is this.

Iran, prior to 1979, viewed itself under the Shah as a kind of a

if not supporter of Israel, was in very good terms with Israel.

They had an embassy in Iran or unofficial embassy in Iran.

They had certain projects that helping with the agriculture and so forth in Iran.

But since 1979, that completely reversed.

Part of it is that the issue of the Palestinian plight

remained very much at the heart of the revolutionary Iranians who would see that part of the United States is to support, part of the United States guilt, sin, is to support Israel vis-a-vis it's very suppressive, very oppressive,

treatment of the Palestinians, completely illegal taking over of the territories which is not theirs since 1967.

And therefore, it is upon the Iranian regime, Iranian Islamic Republic, to support the cause of the Palestinians.

This came about at the time when the rest of the support for the Palestinians, including Arab nationalism, basically reached a stage of bankruptcy.

I mean, much of the regimes of the Arab world either are now coming to terms with Israel or in one way or another, because of their own contingencies, because of their own concerns and interests, are willy-nilly accepting Israel in the region.

Now, that old task of rhetorically supporting the Palestinians falls upon the Islamic Republic.

that sees itself as the champion of the Palestinians now, without, as a matter of fact, having either the support of the Iranian people behind him.

If you ask if tomorrow there would be a poll or a referendum, I would doubt that 80% of the Iranian people would approve of the policies of the Islamic Republic vis-a-vis the issue of Palestine.

nor the Palestinians themselves, because the Islamic Republic's only supporting those factions within the Palestinian movement, which are Islamic, quote unquote.

And even within that, there is problems with Hamas, for instance.