Iran, America & the Great Game

In the course of an interesting post on U.S.-Iran dialoging, Hillary Mann Leverett writes:

It will take not only sustained effort but also clear strategic vision for the Obama Administration to repair the damage to U.S. interests done by the Bush Administration's mishandling of relations with Iran.

Defining that clear strategic vision will require a willingness to question the all-too-prevalent image of Iran as an ideologically-driven and categorical supporter of an undifferentiated array of terrorist groups--from Hizballah to HAMAS to Al Qaida. Fundamentally, the Islamic Republic is a state that acts on the basis of what it perceives as its national interests.

This is all well and good, but what are Iran's national interests? Mann doesn't say, which is unfortunate because ultimately this is the whole enchilada.

We could very well find ourselves in a situation where the basic interests of the U.S. and Iran are simply never going align. The U.S. position on the Gulf is clear: no single power (save the U.S.) can dominate the region. Iran, we're told, similarly seeks to be the single power that dominates the Gulf.

No matter how conciliatory the Obama administration is toward Iran, this baseline divergence of interests is going to rear its head. Unless, of course, the U.S. or Iran renounces their hegemonic ambitions in the region. But what are the odds of that?