On Nov. 4, the Iranian regime commemorated the 38th anniversary of the U.S. Embassy takeover in 1979, when dozens of Americans were taken hostage for 444 days. This year, it paraded its ballistic missiles in front of the former U.S. Embassy in Tehran. With chants of "Death to America," the disdain for international norms and the nuclear deal came through loud and clear.
But that image does not represent Iran.
Today, the average Iranian citizen longs for friendship and mutually beneficial ties with the outside world, particularly the United States. In 1979, it was not only Americans taken hostage by a medieval theocratic order; the Iranian people were also taken hostage and held captive after their democratic revolution was usurped by Khomeini.
Decades later, the prospects of change in Iran are closer and more viable than ever. Internal conditions are conducive to a fundamental sociopolitical transformation, and the Iranian people are rising up and demanding democracy.
At least three distinct but interrelated factors accentuate the prospects for change:
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