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A study was conducted to explore aspects of intercultural communication present when Iranians attempted to communicate publicly in the United States. Thirty-six American students with little previous knowledge of Iran were interviewed following their attendance at a public lecture/demonstration sponsored by Iranian students in Texas. The Americans' responses to and impressions of Iranian students fell into eight areas that caused or indicated confusion, misunderstanding, or alienation. Some of these areas of conflict for the Americans were the Iranians' intense intergroup conflict, their unexpected public forum tactics, their high emotionalism, their lack of facts and substantiation, their personal attacks or personalization of issues, their wild accusations of conspiracies and plots, and their unusual or inadequate speakers. The Iranian system of organizing and regulating political relationships--based on a web system that relies on networks of informal power relationships as the basis of authority, power, and politics--can explain how even though the Iranians were eager to gain American support, their attempts to communicate and persuade usually resulted in limited success. (MKM)