[Alex]

I won't argue with the validity of the view but this sentence is really weird:

Back in those days — 2000 and 2001, when I first lived in Iran as a journalist — Iranians were looking on jealously as U.S. soldiers removed the Taliban from power in neighboring Afghanistan;

It's weird since we weren't removing the Taliban from power until the middle of October 2001. It sounds as if Iranians were experiencing some premature jealousy.