Defending Iran: from Revolutionary Guards to ballistic missiles

"Since the early days of the 1979 revolution, Iran and the United States have seen each other as archenemies. Iranian leaders have dubbed Washington the Great Satan and have articulated American presence in the Middle East (and elsewhere) as the primary reason for instability and chaos. On the other hand, almost with no exception, all U.S. administrations since President Carter have seen Tehran as a sworn enemy whose hate is being driven by Shia ideology and a desire to export its revolution, destabilize its neighbors and destroy Israel. Within this context, since 1984 the Islamic Republic has been designated by the Department of State as the world's leading state-sponsor of terrorism. The United States has also adopted a negative perception of Iran's nuclear program, whose genesis, ironically, lies in the support given to the Shah of Iran to build a civil nuclear research program in anticipation of putting in place from the 1980s a comprehensive national nuclear power program. Since the 1980s Washington has eyed with suspicion the Islamic Republic's efforts to revitalize the moribund program and has systematically accused Tehran of seeking to acquire a nuclear weapons capability, while Iranian leaders categorically deny the American accusations and adamantly claim that the nuclear program has no military applications"--