Iran's Views of Jews and the U.S.

by Lawrence A. Franklin • February 17, 2015 at 5:00 am

Iran's imminent nuclear breakout capability will, of course, come with insufficient notice for anyone to stop it.

With its new intercontinental ballistic missiles, Iran can deliver these nuclear warheads to every capital of Europe. It does not even have to do that. It need only threaten to, while spelling out what it wants.

Doubtless, Iran has also put the "Great Satan," the U.S., high at the top of its list.

Such a history, which reveals why most Jews of Iranian ancestry live abroad, can only intensify Israel's suspicion of any agreement reached with the current Iranian regime, which has pledged often to eliminate "the Zionist entity," the "Little Satan."

The 6th century B.C. Persian Emperor Cyrus, who granted the Jewish people their freedom, is pictured at left in the painting "Cyrus II le Grand et les Hébreux" (by Jean Fouquet, 1470-1475). The Persian Safavid ruler Shah Abbas I, pictured at right reviewing the severed heads of captured Ottoman Turkish soldiers, instituted restrictive ordinances against Jews in 1588.

Christians and Jews are familiar with the biblical narrative of how the ancient ruler of the Persian Empire, Cyrus, granted the Jewish people their freedom after his conquest of the Babylonia in 538 B.C. His proclamation launched the most meaningful "aliyah" [going up to Israel] until modern times.[1]

The Persian ruler even contributed treasure to help finance the rebuilding of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, which had been destroyed by the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar.

There is, however, a different narrative. When Zoroastrianism was declared the official state religion during the Sassanid Dynasty (224-651 A.D.),[2] the plight of Iran's Jews deteriorated.

This fusion of state and religion gave Zoroastrian clerics more political power than the monarchy. It also led to the enforcement of intolerant uniform rules of worship for all of Persia's citizenry.[3]

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