Why do we care so much about Iran?

Aziz - I think it has mostly to do with the event. There is no similar event of scale or passion happening in Egypt. If there were, it's possible (though not necessarily likely) that we'd see a similar reaction. Hard to say.

Iran is dangerous, strategic, and an important geo-political player, and may be approaching a point of departure from the past.

If Iran is at a tipping point, here may be someone who may be the face of the way forward. As an architect of the Islamic revolution in Iran he fell out of favour with Khomeini in 1989: http://www.payvand.com/news/09/jun/1231.html

I can think of three reasons -

1) The event - The Iranian struggle resembles our foundational struggle and resonates with us. Iranians are standing up for their rights just like the patriots of 1776. We respect and support people who fight for their rights, but we don't see Egyptians or Palestinians doing this. The Palestinian activism we see is associated with suicide bombers and people dancing with delight on 9-11.

2) Image of the people - We can relate to the Iranians more easily. Our image of Iran is of middle class, cosmopolitan, pro-American, idealistic youth. Our image of the Arab world is of angry people in galabiyas, much more alien.

3) Iranians are reportedly pro-American, while Arabs are demonstrably not. It's much harder to empathize with people who hate you.

I'm sure if the Egyptians started protesting en masse, and said an occasional kind word about us, we'd come to respect them. Then you'd see pictures of heroic modern youth throwing rocks and cute protest girls chanting for freedom, and our hearts would melt.