By Paul R. Pillar
The Trump administration is bending over backward to be, and to
sound, hostile and confrontational toward Iran. This effort to flaunt a
role for itself as a dedicated enemy of Iran has roots in the same factors that
underlie the more widely established anti-Iranism in
the United States, staying ahead of which is clearly an
administration objective.
These factors include a troubled history highlighted for
Americans by the hostage crisis of 1979-81. They include pressure from
intra-regional rivals of Iran — especially the Israeli government but also the
Gulf Arab regimes — that have an interest in depicting Iran as the source of
all trouble in the Middle East and as a demon that distracts attention from
problems that are more their own doing.
