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Iran's Minister of Culture [[Hossein Saffar Harandi]] has called the disrespect to the Persian [[Shahnameh]] by some Pan-Turkists, as the "introduction to Anti-Iranianism".<ref>In Persian: http://www.turkiran.com/521.htm</ref>
==By the United States==
The first anti-Iranian move by the United States was the deposition of Iran's elected Prime Minister [[Mossadegh]] in 1953 via the infamous [[Operation Ajax]].
After the revolution, Iran and the US were inevitably led to a collision course with the US making every effort to destabilize Iran with repeated allegations of Iran being a major if not the largest "state sponsor of terrorism"<ref>The US has levelled this accusation against Iran since 1984: http://www.cfr.org/publication/9362/#6</ref>, culminating with George Bush labeling Iran as the "[[Axis of Evil]]".
On [[February 5]], [[2006]], [[Iranian blogs|Iranian blogger]] Persian Majeed listed a number of alleged [[human rights]] violations by the US in Iran and alleged attacks by the US against Iranian democracy of the preceding half-century, requesting judicial enquiries and appropriate compensation payments to Iranians. His judgment of the severity of the US actions against [[politics of Iran|democracy in Iran]] concludes with the request that the US should be referred to the [[United Nations]] for sanctions. <ref name="pmajeed"> [http://www.iranian.com/Opinion/2006/February/Majeed/index.html Let's rewrite Iranian history: The past 50 years], [[blog]], [[February 5]], [[2006]], Persian Majeed, [[iranian.com]]</ref>
===Iran-Air incident===
While issuing notes of regret over the loss of human life in the tragic event of '''[[Iran Air Flight 655]]''', the U.S. government never admitted any wrong-doing or responsibility in the tragedy, nor apologised, but continues to blame Iranian hostile actions for the incident. The men of the Vincennes were all awarded combat-action ribbons. Commander Lustig, the air-warfare co-ordinator, even won the navy's [[Commendation Medal]] for "heroic achievement," his "ability to maintain his poise and confidence under fire" having enabled him to "quickly and precisely complete the firing procedure."<ref name="geocities 5260"/> According to a [[23 April]] [[1990]] article in ''[[The Washington Post]]'', the [[Legion of Merit]] was presented to Captain Rogers and Lieutenant Commander Lustig on [[3 July]] [[1988]]. The citations did not mention the downing of the Iran Air flight at all.<!-- http://www.pupress.princeton.edu/books/rochlin/chapter_09.html#foot20 contains erroneous info --> It should be noted that the Legion of Merit is often awarded to high-ranking officers upon successful completion of especially difficult duty assignments and/or last tours of duty before retirement.
The then Vice-President [[George H. W. Bush]] declared a month later:
{{cquote|I will never apologise for the United States of America, ever. I don't care what it has done. I don't care what the facts are.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0405/05/pzn.00.html| title=CNN transcript, Paula Zahn now}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| title=[[Newsweek]]| date=[[August 15]], [[1988]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iranchamber.com/history/articles/flight_655.php| title=Shooting Down Iran Air Flight 655 [IR655]| first=Shapour| last=Ghasemi| year=2004| accessdate=2006-03-31}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.trinicenter.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=30|title=War and Terror: The World's Only Superpower| first= William| last=Blum| accessdate=2006-03-31}}</ref>}}
===Siding against Iran during the Iran-Iraq war===
[[image:Saddam_rumsfeld.jpg|thumb|right|[[Donald Rumsfeld]] meeting Saddām on [[19 December]] – [[20 December]] [[1983]]. Rumsfeld visited again on [[24 March]] [[1984]]; the same day the UN released a report that Iraq had used [[mustard gas]] and [[Tabun (nerve agent)|tabun]] nerve agent against Iranian troops. The ''NY Times'' reported from Baghdad on [[29 March]] [[1984]], that "American diplomats pronounce themselves satisfied with Iraq and the U.S., and suggest that normal diplomatic ties have been established in all but name." [http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/ NSA Archive Source] ]]
{{main|U.S. support for Saddam during the Iran-Iraq war}}
===Against scientists and UN envoys===
In September 2005, U.S. State Department refused to issue visas for Iran’s parliamentary speaker and a group of senior Iranian officials to travel to US to participate in an International parliamentary meeting held by the [[United Nations]]. According to UN rules, US has to grant visas to the senior officials from any UN member states, irrespective of their political views, to take part in UN meetings.
{{main|Sanctions against Iranian scientists}}
===Threats of a possible military attack on Iran by the US===
The [[United States]]' official position on [[Iran]] is that "a nuclear-armed Iran is not acceptable" and that "all options" - including the unilateral use of force and first-strike nuclear weapons - are "on the table". <ref name="bushbrussels">[http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?itemid=7784 Blair's Next War], [[May 04]], [[2005]], Dave Wearing</ref> However, they have denied that the United States is preparing for an imminent strike. This came while three European countries, the [[United Kingdom]] (UK), [[France]] and [[Germany]] (the "[[EU-3]]") attempted to negotiate a cessation of nuclear enrichment activities by Iran, and American claims that these activities are aimed at producing nuclear weapons. [http://usinfo.state.gov/is/Archive/2006/Mar/24-427575.html]
As of 2006, the United States has either a large or significant military presence or a history of several decades of tight military cooperation in four other countries bordering Iran: [[Iraq]], [[Turkey]], [[Afghanistan]] and [[Pakistan]].
An American journalist, [[Seymour Hersh]], claimed in January 2005 that [[U.S. Central Command]] had been asked to revise the military's war plan, providing for a maximum ground and air invasion of Iran and that the "hawks" in the U.S. government believed the EU3 negotiations would not succeed, and the Administration will act after this became clear. A former high-level intelligence official told him "''It's not '''if''' we're going to do anything against Iran. They're doing it.''" <ref name="seymourhershone">http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?050124fa_fact</ref>
[[Scott Ritter]], former UN [[weapons of mass destruction]] [[Iraq and weapons of mass destruction|inspector in Iraq]], [[1991]]-[[1998]], claimed in April 2005 that the [[Pentagon]] was told in June 2005 to be prepared to launch a massive aerial attack against Iran in order to destroy the Iranian nuclear program. He claimed in June 2005 that the US military was preparing a "''massive military presence''" in [[Azerbaijan]] that would foretell a major land-based campaign designed to capture Tehran. He also claimed that the US attack on Iran had "''already begun''" (see below).<ref name="rittersleep">[http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?itemid=7560 Sleepwalking To Disaster In Iran], [[April 01]], [[2005]], [[Scott Ritter]]</ref>
In his article published [[March 27]], [[2006]], [[Joseph Cirincione]], director for non-proliferation at the [[Carnegie Endowment for International Peace]], claimed that "some senior officials have already made up their minds: They want to hit Iran." and that there "may be a coordinated campaign to prepare for a military strike on Iran."<ref name="foreignpolcirin">[http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3416 Fool Me Twice], [[March 27]], [[2006]], [[Joseph Cirincione]], [[Foreign Policy]]</ref> Joseph Cirincione also warned "that a military strike would be disastrous for the United States. It would rally the Iranian public around an otherwise unpopular regime, inflame anti-American anger around the Muslim world, and jeopardize the already fragile U.S. position in Iraq. And it would accelerate, not delay, the Iranian nuclear program. Hard-liners in Tehran would be proven right in their claim that the only thing that can deter the United States is a nuclear bomb. Iranian leaders could respond with a crash nuclear program that could produce a bomb in a few years."
Professor at the [[University of San Francisco]] and Middle East editor for the [[Foreign Policy in Focus Project]], [[Stephen Zunes]], also claims that a military attack on Iran is being planned.<ref name="Zunesusiranisrael">[http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=22&ItemID=10194 The United States, Israel, and the Possible Attack on Iran], [[Stephen Zunes]], [[May 2]], [[2006]], [[ZNet]]</ref>
===Claims of plans for use of nuclear weapons against Iran===
[[Image:Thong Iran.jpg|frame|A thong sold in the U.S. by [[CafePress.com]] with engraving that reads: "Nuke Iran".]]
In March 2005 US revised its [[Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations|doctrine]] on when to use nuclear weapons to include [[preemptive war|preemptive]] or possibly [[preventive war|preventive]] use on non-nuclear states.
In August [[2005]], [[Philip Giraldi]], a former [[CIA]] officer, claimed that US Vice President [[Dick Cheney]] had instructed [[STRATCOM]] to prepare ''a contingency plan to be employed in response to another 9/11-type terrorist attack on the United States... <nowiki>[including]</nowiki> a large-scale air assault on Iran employing both conventional and tactical nuclear weapons... not conditional on Iran actually being involved in the act of terrorism directed against the United States.'' The reason cited for the attack to use [[mini-nuke]]s is that the targets are ''hardened or are deep underground'' and would not be destroyed by non-nuclear warheads.<ref name="amcon"> [http://www.amconmag.com/2005_08_01/article3.html Deep Background], [[August 1]], [[2005]], [[Philip Giraldi]], [[The American Conservative]]</ref>
Claims that the US plans to use [[nuclear weapons]] in an attack on Iran have also been made in [[2005]] and [[2006]] by [[Jorge Hirsch]]<ref name="hirsch"> [http://www.antiwar.com/orig/hirsch.php?articleid=8007 A 'Legal' US Nuclear Attack Against Iran], [[Jorge Hirsch]], [[November 12]], [[2005]]</ref> <ref name="hirschabyss"> [http://www.antiwar.com/orig/hirsch.php?articleid=8577 America and Iran: At the Brink of the Abyss] ,[[Jorge Hirsch]], [[February 20]], [[2006]]</ref>, in January [[2006]] by [[Michel Chossudovsky]] <ref name="chossu"> [http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=%20CH20060103&articleId=1714 Nuclear War Against Iran], [[Michel Chossudovsky]], [[January 3]], [[2006]]</ref>, and by the Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention on Iran<ref name=CASMII>[http://www.campaigniran.org Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention on Iran]</ref> and in April [[2006]] by [[Seymour Hersh|Seymour M. Hersh]] <ref name="newyorker"> [http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/060417fa_fact The Iran plans], Seymour Hersh, The New Yorker Mag., [[April 8]], [[2006]]</ref>.
On [[April 18]], [[2006]], on [[CSPAN]], in response to a journalist's questioning, "Sir, when you talk about Iran, and you talk about, how you have to have diplomatic efforts, you often say all options are on the table. Does that include, uh, the possibility of a nuclear strike, is that something that your administration has plans about?", US president [[George W. Bush]] replied "All options are on the table".<ref name="bushnuclearoption">http://www.geocities.com/jorgehirsch/nuclear/bushoptions.mov, [[CSPAN]] interview archived by [[Jorge E. Hirsch]]</ref>
===Other hostile gestures===
[[Stephen Zunes]] stated that the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] and [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Parties of the USA]] have
:''"an urge to punish, isolate, and militarily threaten an oil-rich country <nowiki>[Iran]</nowiki> that refuses to sufficiently cooperate with U.S. economic and strategic designs in the Middle East."''<ref name="zunes">[http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?itemid=8626 The U.S. and Iran: Democracy, Terrorism, and Nuclear Weapons], [[August 31]], [[2005]], [[Stephen Zunes]], [[Foreign Policy in Focus]]</ref>
One of the notable features of President George W Bush's 2007 State of the Union speech was its hostile attitude towards Iran. References to Iran ran like a drum beat through the speech. GW Bush resembled Iran to Al-Qaeda.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6291091.stm]</ref><ref>[http://www.canada.com/globaltv/national/story.html?id=08203203-8bd5-45f1-b30a-811ade141e9b]</ref><ref>[http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/01/20060131-10.html]</ref>
===US violations of Iranian sovereignty===
Several claims have been made that the US has violated Iranian territorial sovereignty since [[2003]], including the flying of drones<ref name="nytdrones">[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19820-2005Feb12.html U.S. Uses Drones to Probe Iran For Arms], February 13, 2005, [[Washington Post]]</ref><ref name="nytdronesresponse">[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/07/AR2005110701450.html Iran Protests U.S. Aerial Drones], November 8, 2005, Washington Post</ref><ref name="ritterwarbegun">[http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?itemid=8126 The US war with Iran has already begun], [[June 21, 2005]], [[2005]], [[Scott Ritter]]</ref>, sending US soldiers into Iranian territory<ref name="seymourhershone" />, and the use of former or current members of the [[People's Mujahedin of Iran|Mujahideen e-Khalq]] (MEK or MKO)<ref name="rawstoryMEK">[http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/US_outsourcing_special_operations_intelligence_gathering_0413.html On Cheney, Rumsfeld order, US outsourcing special ops, intelligence to Iraq terror group, intelligence officials say], by Larisa Alexandrovna, [[April 13]], [[2006]], [[The Raw Story]]</ref> and the [[Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan]] (PEJAK)<ref name="kucinich">[http://kucinich.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=42505 Kucinich Questions The President On US Trained Insurgents In Iran: Sends Letter To President Bush], [[Dennis Kucinich]], [[April 18]], [[2006]]</ref> to carry out provocations such as bombings on Iranian territory in order to provoke pre-existing ethnic tensions.
Since 2003 the U.S. has been flying [[unmanned aerial vehicle]]s, launched from [[Iraq]], over Iran to obtain [[Intelligence (information gathering)|intelligence]] on [[Iran and weapons of mass destruction#Nuclear weapons|Iran's alleged nuclear weapons program]], reportedly providing little new information.<ref name="nytdrones" />The Iranian government has formally protested the incursions as illegal. A U.S. [[RQ-7 Shadow]] and a [[Hermes UAV]] have crashed in Iran.<ref name="nytdronesresponse" />
In June 2005, [[Scott Ritter]] claimed that US attacks on Iran had already begun, including US overflights of Iran ''using pilotless drones''.<ref name="ritterwarbegun" />
[[Seymour Hersh]] has claimed that the US has also been ''penetrating eastern Iran from [[Afghanistan]] in a hunt for underground <nowiki>[nuclear weapons development]</nowiki> installations''.<ref name="seymourhershone" />
===Decisions of US courts against Persian heritage artifacts===
{{main|Chicago's Persian heritage crisis}}
==By Arabs==
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