Senior Iranian officials and strategists divide the world into two camps, a "dominating" group led by the US, and the other the "dominated" block comprised of developing countries.

The dominating group, the US in particular, is in decline while the "dominated" block is emerging such as Iran and Venezuela, giving the latter an increasing relative advantage.

The US, trapped in the Iraq quagmire and unlikely to pull out in short term, is in its weakest state, Iranian experts and strategists believe.

Meanwhile, Britain, France and other world powers have their own vested interests in Iran, meaning that they would not fully support US sanctions against the country.

And they even think that US needs Iran's cooperation in issues such as reconstruction in Afghanistan and Iraq.

And Iran, taking advantage of the rift between the world powers and its cooperation with International Atomic Energy Agency, is protracting the issue to gain time to research nuclear technology.

It is also improving relations with Arab countries and enhancing ties with India and Venezuela to expand its regional and international influence, creating a favorable external environment to counter the US.

Under such circumstances, the US, the Iranian strategists say, cannot impose effective sanctions against Iran and therefore a US military strike is definitely out of the question.

They say that the Democrats, if they claim the White House this year, will adopt a different policy toward Iran.