Back in June, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gave an impassioned monologue about his country’s future.

His comments at a public event in Tehran received only passing attention. But for anyone trying to understand Iran’s mind-set in the ongoing nuclear showdown, it was a concise and clarifying lesson.

Ahmadinejad spoke of Iran’s aspirations to become an Islamic hub for science and technology, of Muslim views on justice and independence, and of the West’s “double standards” in dealing with countries such as his.

While the West frames the struggle in largely strategic terms — how to deny Iran nuclear weapons capability — it carries many more shades from the Iranian perspective. They include echoes of ancient Persian glory and the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

But, in the end, it all comes down to Iran’s vision of the future.

In the Middle East, it is seeking to reassert its historical role as a power and counterweight to US-backed governments in neighbouring Iraq and Afghanistan. Around the Muslim world, meanwhile, Ahmadinejad tirelessly promotes an image of Iran as the 21st century model for Islamic progress, pride and piety.

“This is why the nuclear issue is so vital to Iran. Because, in reality, it symbolises much more than just nuclear power,” said Davoud Hermidas Bavand, a Tehran-based political analyst. “Any retreat is seen, in the eyes of the Iranian leaders, as a step back from their broad, long-term goals.”

Iran says its nuclear programme is for electricity — a project that dates back to the US-backed monarchy in the 1970s — and not for weapons. It now has a pivotal decision to make: accept international demands to freeze uranium enrichment in exchange for economic rewards, or stay defiant and risk UN Security Council sanctions.

At the latest talks in Europe, Iran hinted it could be leaning more toward compromise than confrontation. But it didn’t appear ready to suspend uranium enrichment as a precondition for nuclear talks that could include the United States.

Whatever the outcome, oil-rich Iran’s growing swagger is evident, and ties in with one overall aim: to position itself as a regional heavyweight that can no longer be sidelined by the West.

Ironically, Washington, which broke relations with Iran after militants seized the US Embassy in 1979, helped open the doors to the newly emboldened Islamic regime.

The downfall of two Iranian foes — the Taliban and Saddam Hussein — allowed Iran to rebuild its powerful links to fellow Shiite Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan. Last week, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki received a red-carpet welcome at the presidential palace in Tehran.

Iran’s clout also got a sharp boost from the groups it aids. Hamas took control of Palestinian politics in elections in January. Then Iran’s Shiite proxy, Hezbollah, gained hero status among Muslims during this summer’s battles against Israel in Lebanon.

“The strategic map of the Middle East is being redrawn. And a lot of it at the moment is going in Iran’s favour,” said Nasser Hadian, a political affairs analyst at Tehran University.

For many Iranians, it’s simply the natural order being restored.

Iranians widely view themselves as the historical centre of gravity for the region — in a legacy extending back to the Persian Empire. Alaska-sized Iran, with nearly 70 million people, is the world’s most populous Shiite country and about twice as big as Turkey or Egypt. Before the 1979 revolution it was an ally of Israel; afterward it switched alliances and, although not an Arab state, has inserted itself ever-deeper into the Mideast conflict on the Arab side. In the leadership’s vista of a progressive, independent Iran, the West — particularly Britain and the United States — is often cast as the obstacle. Many debates on the nuclear issue within Iran include mention of political upheaval more than a half century ago when CIA-encouraged riots helped overthrow Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq, who angered the West with plans to seize foreign-operated oil operations. The Western-backed monarchy was quickly restored.

Scenes of the 1980-88 war with Saddam’s Western-aided army are still staples on Iranian state television. The Iranian leadership knows how to tap into these old grudges. (AP)