The acrimonious relationship between the United States and Iran in recent years has been neatly personified by their respective presidents: George W. Bush and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. In his 2005 State of the Union address, Bush described Iran as “the world’s primary state sponsor of terror” and accused it of “pursuing nuclear weapons while depriving its people of the freedom they seek and deserve.” Threats of military strikes against Iran—often couched in euphemisms about “leaving all options on the table”—were common throughout the Bush presidency. Ahmadinejad, for his part, called for America’s ally Israel to be “wiped off the map” and generally ratcheted up belligerent rhetoric to levels not heard in years.
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