S. M. ROGOV Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences 1.The confrontation between the United States and Iran has been going on for 33 years. This is one of the longest-running international conflicts, considering that even the Soviet-American Cold War lasted just over 40 years. In this regard, the question arises: is there really an irreconcilable conflict between the United States and Iran, a clash of their interests? Yes, there are undoubtedly ideological contradictions. The Bush administration even promoted Islam-fascism as the main ideological threat to the free world instead of communism. But this thesis, to put it mildly, does not stand up to criticism, and the Obama administration has completely abandoned it, although Republicans repeat it during the current election campaign. Undoubtedly, there are geopolitical contradictions between the United States and Iran. It seems that Iran still sees itself as a regional superpower in the Persian Gulf region. And under the Shah, the Americans not only did not object, but also strongly encouraged Tehran to play such a role. But when Iran took an anti-American stance, Washington's position changed dramatically. A very interesting question from the point of view of ideology: why in the competition between Sunni monarchies and the Shiite republic, America takes the side of much more reactionary, anti-democratic, restricting any human rights, including women, Sunni kings and emirs, although Iran against the background of Saudi Arabia, probably looks almost like a semi-democracy. 2. The role of the energy factor in American politics is very often greatly exaggerated in our country. The United States does not particularly need the energy resources of Iran, and indeed of the entire Persian Gulf, at present. America has diversified its sources of energy, plus the boom that domestic production is currently experiencing: sources of shale gas in the United States and possible cooperation with Canada. But there is no denying ... Read more