"Even among opponents of Ahmadinejad, anti-Western sentiment is strong!"

"... The Iranians take note of Israel's military exercises. They hear that Israeli politicians are threatening to launch an attack. They read about the murders of Iranian nuclear scientists. They see that, according to one Gallup poll, 87 percent of Americans view Iran as their No. 1 enemy.

However, people in Iran seem to give little or no thought to the fact that the Obama administration has been warning Israel against unilaterally triggering a risky war in addition to trying to get hawks in Tel Aviv to cool off. But, even among Iran's intelligentsia, the image of America and Israel as the enemy is too deeply ingrained.

"And we're the warmongers?" asks one medical student in Qom in disbelief.... ... People in Iran and the neighboring countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan are united in their belief that a war would most likely lead not only to the annihilation of Israel, but also to a rupture between the East and West. What's more, they believe it would risk a nuclear confrontation that could endanger the already weakened global economy. In short, according to this logic, war would be insanity.... 

When asked what kind of backing supporters of democratic principles in Iran would still have if calls for a war against Iran became part of a democratic election campaign, one Tehran student said it would show that "American politicians had once again achieved the opposite of what lies in the United States' interest."