Iran hasn't changed, the US has

On Thursday, the Iranians marked 37 years since the Revolution. The Islamic Republic of Iran celebrated the day like it always has -- with an impressive military parade starring the Emad ballistic missile (which was test-launched in October despite the ban), millions of people marching in the streets, songs glorifying the revolution and its spiritual father Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and of course cries of "Death to America!" "Death to Israel!" -- as if no agreement had been signed been reached in Vienna on July 14 between Iran and the west.

Iran, 1979, Iran, 2016 ... what has changed? Not much. On second thought, American is the one that has changed. And that explains the nuclear deal.

It's been 23 years since my first visit to post-revolutionary Iran. Anti-Americanism, anti-Westernism and mainly anti-Zionism were felt almost everywhere. It was the same on my next visit, during the term of the "enlightened" then-President Mohammad Khatami.

The ayatollah regime is a revolutionary one. Its avowed goal was to expand the revolution. The nuclear deal allowed the Iranians to be formally recognized, to increase their influence in the region and at some point or another, their nuclear capabilities. In other words, this year they had more reason than ever to celebrate.

July 14 is Bastille Day in France. In Vienna, another historic event took place on the same date: the West recognizing the Islamic Revolution. Iran is so sure of itself and so sure that the American administration won't lift a finger against it that at Thursday's celebrations it even reenacted the humiliation of captured U.S. sailors by the Revolutionary Guard. The kind of performance we're used to seeing from Hamas and Hezbollah. They learned it from someone.

On February 26, Iran will hold elections. Without a doubt, a world war has already begun behind the scenes between the liberal camp under President Hassan Rouhani and the conservatives, led by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

"True [conservatives], true reformists, and true moderates are all revolutionary, and we must always repeat the language of the Revolution," Khamenei -- sorry, my mistake, Rouhani -- said Thursday in his speech in Azadi (Freedom) Square. That's the moderate leader.

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