Why the US and Iran love to hate each other

But Iranians draw other comparisons, too. Ayatollah Khamenei and Bush regularly invoke the power of God. "In terms of political discourse, Bush and [Iranian] conservatives are very similar - they try to use religious language for political targets," says Hamid Reza Jalaiepour, a political sociologist at Tehran University.

"In the US, having a system that thinks religiously is not bad.... I prefer people in the US who go to church," says Amir Mohebian, political editor of the conservative newspaper Resalat. "But war between these two peoples - who think they are acting on behalf of God - is not good.... War between believers is too dangerous."

Parallels would not appear to stem from national histories. Persia's proud imperial history stretches back 2,500 years and more; America's proud Puritan heritage dates back only a fraction as far.

"The people of America are great," outgoing President Mohammad Khatami told Newsweek in 2004. "And the essence of American civilization comes from the Puritan culture, which I greatly respect."

But both cultures have cherished independence, and yielded societies in which humble origins can turn to leadership. Iran's president-elect - only the most recent example - is the son of a blacksmith.

"Iran has an absolutist, cruel, dictatorial history, in which the ruler always destroyed the aristocracy," says Reza Alavi, an academic and former managing editor of the Harvard Middle Eastern and Islamic Review. "So you can easily find people who came from nowhere to high levels of power."

"As in the American mind, [there is] the same cultural value of success," says Mr. Alavi. The result is "an extreme individualism. That's why you find so many Iranians adjust so well to America. When they go there, they are like a fish in water."

But differences are pronounced, too. America is a largely law-abiding society, while Iran is not a country of laws. And widespread professions of faith in the US are quite different from those in Iran.

"The Bush crowd comes out of the revivalist movement, but in the West, that is a reaction to modern science, and never really succeeds because modern America and Europe are defined by science," says Alavi. "But in Iran, the traditional idiom has survived into the modern age, and religion is part of that.

"If an American does something wrong, he says, 'I'm sorry.' A Persian would say: 'God wanted it that way,' " he says. "It's so different when Mr. Bush says 'God' - it's a radically different articulation than when Mr. Khamenei says it."

And despite similar rhetoric of the "enemy," analysts say, comparisons have limits. "Here, the hard-liners live in an isolated world - they won't see foreigners, or hear them at all. They kill [dissidents], abuse human rights," says a Western diplomat. "In the US, you have a different class of hard-liner. [T]here is a belief ... in the power of freedom. Hard-liners here have a whole different set of values."

Still, Ahmadinejad has sought to temper his reputation. "In domestic policy, moderation will be the policy of the government," the president-elect said. And, he said, "Those in the US who want to have relations with Iran should state their policies transparently, so that we can examine the possibility."

But first, officials say, Iran expects to be treated as an equal - something the US has ruled out until its charges of terrorism and nuclear-weapons ambitions are cleared up.

Some draw parallels with the pro- Western rule of the shah, fêted as an ally before being swept from power in 1979. Ties then were so close that the US helped plan Iran's original nuclear-power program.

"If the Americans have the right to become emperor of the world, Iranians think they have the right to be the emperor at least of their region," says Vaeidi. "If we can find the best way to bring these two hegemons together, it will be good.

"America recognized this role for the Shah's regime, but as an agent [of the US], not an ally," he adds. "If the US can consider Iran an ally, not an agent, it can work. The message to the American government is: You have to accept our existence."

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