What makes the Iran - Honduras comparison so telling are two sets of facts. The first, regarding Iran, is that Iran has been, and remains, under threat of a major military assault by the United States and Israel; that Iran has not advanced beyond its borders in the last century and beyond, and poses no threat of an offensive attack on the two countries that threaten it; and that while Iran's clerical regime is without question repressive, Iran is nowhere near as oppressed and closed a society as are the U.S. allies in nearby Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Furthermore, Iran held a presidential election in June 2009 that was seriously contested, even though the results were disputed and the belief that the presidency was stolen from the true victor triggered massive protests on a scale unseen since the overthrow of the Shah in 1979.
