Why use dereference operator on iterators?

[DJLad16]

vector<string>::iterator myIter;
	vector<string>::const_iterator iter;
	vector<string>weap(3);
	string userInput;

	cout << "Enter 3 weapons: " << endl;
	cin >> weap[0];
	cin >> weap[1];
	cin >> weap[2];

	cout << "Your weapons: " << endl;
	for(iter = weap.begin(); iter < weap.end(); ++iter)
	{
		cout << *iter << endl;
	}

(I've not used the other parts of the program to save space e.g #include <iostream>)

The book I'm using doesn't go into enough detail to why we use the dereference operator (*) when outputting operators. So if someone kind enough could explain to me why we need to use them.

[cire]

iterators are analogous to pointers. You dereference them to get at the pointed-to object.

[S G H]

cire wrote:

iterators are analogous to pointers. You dereference them to get at the pointed-to object.

+1.

Iterators, for safety, performance and simpleness store pointers, not objects.

[DJLad16]

Ah, that's more clear. Thanks :D