This page reproduces only the opening of a column by Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson, republished elsewhere, from February 2010. Gerson argues that realists and idealists in foreign policy are beginning to converge on Iran. Realists care only about a regime's external conduct, while idealists hold that internal repression shapes external aggression. U.S. policy emerges from a compromise between the two. The excerpt is cut short and does not mention Sazegara or his views.