US vs. Iran: Are we as different as we seem?

During Christmas break I was running on the treadmill at my local gym when the news came on. Although I’m not strongly interested in politics, because I feel that corrupt politicians are the root of many of the world’s problems, I found myself watching anyways.

Not surprising was the fact that the news was reporting on the politically volatile country of Iran, a country the United States is currently in conflict with over Iran’s continued refusal to cease their nuclear weapons program.
What I did find surprising was that an Iranian nuclear scientist and Professor at Tehran University by the name of Massoud Ali Mohammadi, had been assassinated guerilla style through a type of remote controlled or timed bomb in the nation’s capitol, Tehran, and the Iranian government had immediately released a worldwide statement that stated U.S. and Israeli involvement in the scientist’s murder.

Now I am not particularly nationalistic, but when I heard this I was outraged to the point of slipping on my treadmill and almost sustaining considerable injuries. I wondered to myself how could the Iranian government make such absurd and un-substantiated claims? The answer to this question wasn’t hard to come up with given the long standing animosity between the U.S. and Iran since Iran’s regime change in the 70’s, and the more recent tension between the two countries over Iran’s continued refusal to cease building nuclear weapons despite persistent requests from world powers for them to liquefy the dangerous program.

I became even more upset when I found out that not only was Massoud Ali Mohammadi not directly involved in the nuclear program as stated by worldnews.com, “Ali Shirzadian, a spokesman for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, said Ali Mohammadi “did not have any cooperation (work) with the organization and therefore he had not played a role in the Atomic Energy Organization’s activities”, but additionally Mohammadi was on multiple lists and petitions in favor for the moderate presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, making him a perfect target for Iranian government issued assassination, (a commonly used tactic by the theocracy for those in opposition of the currently standing government).
Another reason I was so upset over Iran’s claims is because wars have been started over similar claims of attack and invasion and I felt it was reckless and impulsive for the Iranian government to issue such a claim without verified intelligence to back it up.

As someone who is dating an Iranian-American dual citizen, I went to my boyfriend to talk to him about this issue. My boyfriend has often pointed out to me that he, “speak(s) two languages and I half to learn everything twice and look at everything in two different ways.” What came from our conversation, him being unbiased as he was raised to be a citizen of both countries, was the realization that Iran’s government tactics are really not so different from our own government's.

You must be thinking, well how do you figure that a democratic government could possibly resemble a totalitarian theocracy in any way shape or form? However if you think about it for a minute, the American government is equally guilty of making worldwide bogus and unsubstantiated claims towards other countries it is in opposition as well, and fairly recently too.
As in as recent as our last presidency. Do the words “weapons of mass destruction” ring a bell to anyone? This false claim is the primary reason and justification for our invasion and infiltration of the Middle East for the last 9 years, which was revealed to the world as totally untrue and unprecedented years later by a feeble and unrepentant admission of “mistaken intelligence”.

What I took away from this experience of outrage and the subsequent conversation with my boyfriend, was that before we jump to conclusions and point the finger of blame or condemnation at another, we should first take a look at ourselves to see if we have made similar mistakes. For after all we are all human and not so very different as politics and propaganda may make us out to be, so be critical of what you are told. Analyze the information you are fed. Do your research before making up your own mind over your feelings for another culture or even another person.