Why Iran is not the new Iraq

"Washington's attempts to isolate Iran, and pretend that its economy would be as vulnerable to economic sanctions as Iraq's was, is wide of reality. According to the latest figures, Iran's per-capita GDP stands at $1,641, double that of Indonesia. It has the 22nd largest surplus in the world at $5,256m, more than Denmark and Qatar. In terms of purchasing power, it is the 22nd largest economy in the world, just below Turkey, but above Poland.

The statistics tell a story that is missed by the British and American governments when they talk about Iran. A quarter of a century after the Islamic revolution, the theocratic authorities in Iran face a critical test of relevance and legitimacy in a country that is changing far more quickly than they are.

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At the height of the Iran-Iraq war, which is estimated to have killed and wounded a million people, Khomeini made an extraordinary statement. He described the conflict that was consuming a generation as "a war sent by God". Western commentators saw this as an example of a grotesque fundamentalist mentality that delighted in the spilling of blood. In fact, it was a brutally honest assessment of how Saddam's attack had given the Islamic leadership a golden opportunity to rally the nation around it, and cast all its opponents as foreign agents."

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