In the March issue of Smithsonian magazine, the article "A New Day in Iran?" finds that Iranians say they admire, of all places, America.

"The paradox of Iran is that it just might be the most pro-American - or, perhaps, least anti-American - populace in the Muslim world," says Karim Sadjadpour, an analyst in Tehran for the International Crisis Group.

Smithsonian commissioned Afshin Molavi, an internationally recognized authority on Iran, to write the article. Born in Iran, Molavi grew up in the United States and returned to the region to research his 2003 book, "Persian Pilgrimages: Journeys Across Iran."

A Washington, D.C.-based journalist, Molavi spent two weeks in Iran doing research for his Smithsonian article, which touches on the pro-American attitudes of Iran's youth, the escalating tensions between America and Iran, and Molavi's surprising take on Iran's future.

As the Smithsonian article documents, many Iranians who said they welcomed the ouster of the American-backed Shah 26 years ago are now frustrated by the revolutionary regime's failure to make good on promised political freedoms and economic prosperity. Government mismanagement, chronic inflation and unemployment have also contributed to mistrust of the regime and, with it, its anti-Americanism.

Though hard-line officials urge "Death to America," most Iranians seem to ignore the propaganda. In a recent survey, nearly three-fourths of the Iranians polled said they would like their government to restore dialogue with the United States.

It's apparent that Iran's youth are the most disenchanted with the current government. Young people in Iran make up the bulk of the population, 70 percent of which is under 30. Students on today's college campuses tend to shun politics and embrace practical goals such as getting a job or admission into a foreign graduate school. Some 150,000 Iranian professionals leave the country each year, one of the highest rates of brain drain in the Middle East.

In 1953 the United States engineered a coup to overthrow the government and then in the 1960s backed a modernization effort under the Shah government. These ventures led to a surge in anti-American sentiment in the 1970s. Today, however, those under 30 are too young to remember the anti-American sentiment and share little of their parents' ideology.

Editor's note: