– Abstract
Two seminal facts explain the sorry state of the Iran-US relationship: the coup against Mossadegh and the American Embassy hostage-taking. Since this last episode, the goal of regime change has never been durably forsaken on the American side. It has been indeed the driving force behind the policy of sanctions, as well as behind various indirect strategies aiming at destabilizing the Islamic Republic. Today, the nuclear case could offer an opportunity to reach the same goal. On the Iranian side, the regime renounces no mean to counter what it sees as expressions of the arrogance of a big power.
