Iran has once again been put in the cross hairs of the American government and the question being asked by many is will Iran receive the same attention and action that have come to Iraq and Afghanistan? There are many factors that government officials have to look at as they prepare to make a decision on what course of action to take against the Islamic Republic. Many are calling for a change in the religious based regime in hopes that it will help steer the country into a path of cooperation and righteousness as well as make it less of a threat to peace in the Middle East. So what is it that Iran is guilty of? Why are many in the U.S. government calling for a change in the radical Islamic regime in Iran? What is Iran being accused of and are they actually guilty?
The biggest accusation the United States has leveled against Iran, as of late, is that it is harboring senior leaders of the terrorist group Al-Qaeda including one of Osama Bin Laden's sons. It has been thought that the recent attacks in Saudi Arabia were coordinated and set up in Iran as well. The United States government says that they have evidence showing that this is true. The Iranian government says that there is no such senior Al-Qaeda leadership in its country but they have arrested several "lesser" members of the group and is going to prosecute them accordingly. Iran has also made the claim that they have been at odds with the Al-Qaeda network long before Al-Qaeda was made public enemy number one by the United States. There is a religious difference between Al-Qaeda and Iran that would make it appear that there wouldn't be any cooperation between the two (Iran is made up of Shiite Muslims whereas Al-Qaeda is a hard-line Sunni Muslim organization so their ideological differences should cause them to clash). Still, there is some evidence that there was a significant amount of cooperation between Iran and Al-Qaeda prior to Al-Qaeda's relocation to Afghanistan. This evidence has made this a fact and a very troublesome fact at that.
The problem in Iran is that there are really two groups at work. The Ayatollah is the one who has all power in Iran and he controls the military and the intelligence services. They would be the ones who would have knowledge of any Al-Qaeda activity and the Ayatollah controls everything that they say and do. Any information about Al-Qaeda's activity in Iran could be suppressed by the Ayatollah even to the point where he might not even let the President of Iran, Mohammed Khatami, know what is actually going on. The Presidency of Iran is the other facet of the Iranian government at work trying to control what happens in the country and has an agenda different from that of the Ayatollah. If Khatami and several others are saying that Iran does not have any members of Al-Qaeda in Iran they may be correct, at least to the extent of their knowledge. The Ayatollah may not be telling the rest of his government the whole truth about Al-Qaeda operatives being within Iran's borders.
