Promoting Mutual Understanding

Kourosh Ziabari and Dave Eriqat: This interview is a grassroots effort to promote understanding between the people of two countries, the United States and Iran. Obviously, the governments of those two countries have been at odds with one another for quite some time, but how do the people of each country feel? Speaking for Americans, I think we harbor many misconceptions about Iran and Iranians, which leads to a fearful frame of mind that’s easily exploited by our “leaders.” So my goal with this project is to perhaps enlighten Americans about who Iranians are.
This project was inspired by young Kourosh in two ways. First, I read an essay of him titled something like Inviting Americans to Iran, which led me to contact him. Oddly enough, his essay seems to have vanished from that website, so I cannot provide a link to the essay. After I contacted him he gathered the mistaken impression from my own writing that I was some kind of journalist with a wide following, and invited me to interview him! Despite my correcting him about my true humble stature, we decided to do this project anyway. Ironically, Kourosh is the real journalist, not I!

Dave Eriqat