Chatham House
The recent report Iran, Its Neighbours and the Regional Crises by Chatham House (a UK foreign policy thinktank described by SourceWatch as "at the centre of the British Establishment") has received a good degree of media attention. In particular much note has been made of the opening sentence:
There is little doubt that Iran has been the chief beneficiary of the war on terror in the Middle East.
Less attention has been drawn to the further analysis of the report, in particular their characterisation of Iran's foreign policy:
Iranian regional foreign policy, which is often portrayed as mischievous and destabilizing, is in fact remarkably pragmatic on the whole and generally aims to avoid major upheaval or confrontation.
Consider that this is the closest thing to the official view of the UK establishment when examining media alarmism around Iran's growing strength in the region.
