ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the root sources of Iranian enmity toward the United States during the Bill Clinton and George W. Bush presidencies. It examines the perceptions and actions of different ideological factions within Iranian policymaking circles. If ideological relationships play an important role in formulating foreign policies, then the differing domestic principles of Iranian reformers and conservatives should have led them to possess very different views and policies toward the United States. Iranian conservatives for the most part are forceful advocates for Iran's nuclear weapons program, since they view other countries, especially the United States, as grave threats to Iran's security. Iran's ideological factions exhibited key differences on another set of critical international developments during the period under examination: America's reaction to the September 11 terrorist attacks, including the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The conservatives' contradictory policies continued during the Iraq war.
