Iran has been a controversial subject in history and has often been the focus of the news for the past few decades.
Creighton students were given the opportunity Wednesday night to hear about the modern nation of Iran, its perspective of other societies and what should be done in dealing with Iran in a lecture from a best-selling author.
Hooman Majd, author of the book “The Ayatollah Begs to Differ: The Paradox of Modern Iran,” spoke to Creighton faculty, students and visitors. Majd, who is an Iranian native and was educated in the United States, has extensive knowledge about the political workings of Iran.
He served as an adviser and as a translator to the former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami and Iran’s current sitting president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Majd’s family also has had a history in Iranian politics. His father served as a diplomat and his grandfather was an eminent Ayatollah, a high-ranking Shiite religious leader with religious authority and political influence and power.
His lecture, entitled “The Iran Question: Understanding Iran and What We Should Do About It,” focused on the current situation with Iran and what courses of action should be taken in dealing with the country.
John Calvert, associate professor of History, introduced Majd and described Majd’s extensive resumé, which includes articles in Time, GQ and the New Yorker.
“Iran is a country few of us know anything about,” Calvert said before introducing Majd.
During his lecture, Majd explained Iran’s view of Americans, the U.S. government and the causes for their views.
“My goal is to get across to Americans who the Iranians are,” Majd said. “[Americans] are told Iran is our enemy, but the Iranian people generally don’t say that.”
Majd said Iranians are not anti-American in the sense that they oppose the American people; he said they oppose the foreign policies of the American government.
He also said it is important to understand that Iranians have a great sense of pride in their history and they feel that they have the same rights as other countries.
“It’s about understanding where they’re coming from and understanding reasons they don’t want to be viewed certain ways,” Majd said. “We have to learn how to talk to them. They also have to learn how to talk to us.”
Majd said over half of Iranian’s population is under the age of 30 and that they live their lives similar to Americans.
“The Iranian people go about their lives worrying about the same issues that we worry about,” Majd said. “They worry about the economy and unemployment too.”
He said the younger generation has a lot of pride and patriotism and all they have ever known is the current system of government.
“Iranians have a lot of pride of being Persian and their history,” Majd said. “It’s a pride similar to American pride.”
Majd also addressed the issue of Iran’s nuclear enrichment, saying that they will never quit their uranium-enrichment program.
“Iran will never give up uranium enrichment,” he said.
Majd closed by saying that Iranians are looking for respect from other nations above anything else.
“The one thing they don’t want is to be dictated to,” Majd said. “If we are willing to understand [this] we will be able to have relations with them someday.”
Majd’s lecture was held Wednesday night in the Skutt Student Center Ballroom.
The Rev. Henry W. Casper, S.J., professorship in History, sponsored Majd’s lecture. Dr. and Mrs. Wayne L. Ryan of Omaha provided the endowment to fund the professorship.