Diplomatic cables reduced Iranians to a fixed irrational national essence.
Evidence
Laingen’s argument is that no matter what happens, there is a “Persian proclivity” to resist “the very concept of a rational (from the Western point of view) negotiating process.” We can be rational: Persians cannot. Why? Because, he says, they are overridingly egoistical; reality for them is malevolent; the “bazaar mentality” urges immediate advantage over long-term gain; the omnipotent god of Islam makes it impossible for them to understand causality; for them words and reality are not connected. — Edward W. Said, Covering Islam, 103