“Reza, we have the approval of several European governments to go after the opposition,” Kazem (Iranian Revolutionary Guard leader) told me.

“You mean we can take them out at will?”

As long as we do not jeopardize the security of those countries or their citizens, we can.”

This seemed incredible to me. I wondered how the West justified helping fanatics who could just as easily turn on them. As I thought this, I flashed on something Naser had said during the early days of the revolution: “Why would the West - or even the East, for that matter - want Iran to progress when they can take advantage of our oil while having stupid people rule the country?” If his observation were true, it seemed that the West was being incredibly shortsighted.