News

Reeling
from the fall of its ally Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, the United States is
hitting back at Iran as the arch foes fight for influence in a Middle
East upended by popular unrest, analysts said.

Iran
presents Mubarak's fall as a new sign of Washington's and Israel's
decline in the region, but the United States sees opportunities in a new
outbreak of anti-government protests in the Islamic republic.

More broadly, analysts said, Iran frames the anti-government unrest
sweeping the Middle East as inspired by Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution,
while the United States paints it as a democratic trend it inherently
supports.

"We're going to see a more heightened rhetorical
posture by the United States," said Trita Parsi, president of the
National Iranian American Council, which seeks to advance
Iranian-American community interests.

The tougher verbal
stance, he added, is driven mainly by the United States seeking to put
Iran on the defensive after it tried to use events in Egypt to
"undermine America's position" in the region.

"They're
jockeying for position in the Middle East. The order in the Middle East
is crumbling. Iran is positioning itself surprisingly as a real
contender against the US," Parsi said.

"Having one pillar
of the US's order in the region -- Egypt -- fall is clearly creating
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