FRONTLINE

http://www.pbs.org/frontline/

This Week: "Showdown With Iran" (60 minutes),

Tuesday, Oct. 23 at 9pm on PBS (check local listings)

Live Discussion: Chat with producer Greg Barker, Wed., Oct. 24, at 11 am ET

Will there be another war in the Middle East -- a war between the U.S. and Iran?

This Tuesday FRONTLINE traces the complex relationship between the two countries
since 9/1l. From cooperation during the war in Afghanistan to confrontation
today in Iraq, there appear to be hawks and doves in both nations striving to
control policy. However, Iran's determination to continue with its nuclear
program and its support of Shia militias who are attacking U.S. forces in Iraq
are the factors that could cause President Bush to order military action.

Says former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, "I don't know what the president will
do between now and the end of the administration. He has said repeatedly that it
is unacceptable for Iran to have nuclear weapons, and if he means unacceptable,
then I assume he would take military action if he had to."

Such analysis doesn't seem to frighten the Iranians. Their Supreme Leader has
said, "The U.S. can't do a damn thing to us." And the deputy head of Iran's
National Security Council, Mohammad Jafari, tells FRONTLINE in his first-ever
television interview:

"You will not find a single instance in which a country has inflicted harm on us
and we have left it without a response. So if the United States makes such a
mistake, they should know that we will definitely respond. And we don't make
idle threats."

Jafari is senior commander of the Quds Force, the elite foreign operations
branch of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, and a man the U.S. almost caught with
other Iranian operatives inside Iraq earlier this year. Iranian hardliners are
rarely seen on American television. But FRONTLINE producer Greg Barker and
co-producer Claudia Rizzi, were able to convince some of the most senior players
in Iran's power structure to speak with them.

The Iranians display a profound distrust of the U.S., especially its actions in
Iraq. While welcoming the demise of their arch-enemy, Saddam Hussein, they say
the U.S. should now get out. Iran has great influence with the Shia government
in Iraq that the U.S. helped bring to power. One expert in the program notes the
irony: the U.S. action in Iraq has inadvertently helped pave the way for a
revival of Iran's historic ambition to be the key power in the region.

To understand the context for the current U.S.-Iran stand-off, we invite you to
join us Tuesday night. And if you miss the program, it's available for viewing
on our Web site, along with the interviews with key Iranian officials, more
analysis of the issues, and a report by Barker on the making of this film. And,
we invite you to join in the discussion.

Louis Wiley, Jr.
Executive Editor

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+ Live Online Discussion on Washingtonpost.com ...

Producer Greg Barker will be online this Wednesday, Oct 24, at 11am ET, to
discuss "Showdown With Iran"

For details, see:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2007/10/18/DI2007101801299.html

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