The good Mr. Henwood asked me on PEN-L what the proper attitude / correct line should be for Western leftists, when it comes to Iran. I now am in a position to answer that question:
<http://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/Radio.html#070531>
Listen to the second part of the above podcast where Kourosh Shemirani and Saadia Toor provide an excellent analysis of the matter, which coherently and intelligently (especially on the part of Kourosh) puts what I have been stammering about.
BTW, kudos to Doug for his intro comments in the above podcast (they are about WBAI's fund-raising gimmicks)! Also while you are at the above site also check out the interview with Joel Kovel (on Israel/ Zionism): I am usually very sceptical about the use of psycho- theorising as a form of analysis or argument, but Kovel's use of it was quite edifying.
Apologies to MP if Iran is entirely verboten!
--ravi