Iran Feature: So What is The Regime's "Must Read" US Book?

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So which US book is catching the eye of the Iranian leadership these days --- and doing so with approval?

Fars News, close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, offers a clue this morning with s a glowing review of the latest opus from Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett: "Going to Tehran: Why the United States Must Come to Terms With the Islamic Republic of Iran".

Fars has not been a particular fan of American literature in the past, but it appears that it has been converted by an emphasis on "American treachery", the absence of human rights issues, the praise for Iran's well-run and completely legitimate 2009 Presidential election, and the assurances by the Leveretts --- despite an inability to read Persian --- that comments by President Ahmadinejad about Israel "wiped from the map" are a "poor translation":

This book is critically important for its scientific and strategic approach to the pathology of [American foreign policy]...The two authors say Iran is the most crucial country in the most crucial region... the "focus and center of the world".

Fars is particularly impressed with the Leveretts' approach to Iran's nuclear program. Indeed, Fars' extracts from Going To Tehran read like a Best Hits from the regime over the past several years: Iran's nuclear program is peaceful, Tehran has said that religious and moral reasons prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon, and the US has been following the wrong policies in its dealings with the Islamic Republic.

Fars --- in contrast to less charitable readers such as Laura Secor of The New York Times --- also plays up the Leveretts' argument that there is "widespread popular support" in Iran for the current system and the Supreme Leader.

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For Fars, it is clear that the Leveretts have written a Revolutionary Guards fantasy: America is forced to submit to Iran on the "world stage", so the US needs cooperation with Iran to avoid tension and conflict.

For their part, the Leveretts --- who post every positive mention of their book on their website dedicated to it --- have not yet published Fars' endorsement.