AA:

As the clock ticks towards 8th of August, the deadline fixed by US President Donald Trump to unveil the next stage of his policy towards Iran, a choir of Western politicians, academics and businessmen is formed to urge him to stick to the policies of his predecessors since 1979. That, in turn, has encouraged elements in the Tehran leadership to argue against any change of policy and/or behavior by the Islamic Republic on a range of issues, as spelled out in US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's 12-point statement, including the attempt to "export" revolution to Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Bahrain and Yemen among others.

Last Tuesday Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif replied to Pompeo with a 15-point desiderata of his own, indicating Tehran's choice of a delaying tactic. 

The pro-Khomeinist chorus builds its case on an abstract notion in which, in dealing with the Islamic Republic, the choice is only between surrendering to its every whim or total military invasion.

In her latest book "Fascism: A Warning" former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright reduces policy in Iran to a simple question: "Do we want to repeat the adventure in Iraq?"

One of her successors, John Kerry, goes even further by touring Western capitals to promote his idea that "there is no alternative to Iran's influence" in the Middle East.

Ben Rhodes, a former National Security assistant to President Barrack Obama, echoes that sentiment in his new book "The World As It Is". He dwells on the fact that Iran has a middle class and a more developed society to cast it as a better model for the Middle East. 

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