If the recent US threats and actions damage the process of development of newdemocratic structures in Iran, then it will not be the first time that Iranians'efforts to build a democratic system has been setback by foreign intervention.The last major intervention in Iran was the US-backed coup detat against thedemocratically-elected government of Mossadegh in 1953, followed by 25 years ofstate terror and repression that convinced most Iranians that the US did notwish to see democratic progress in Iran, and gave cause to expressions ofanti-US feelings.