Middle East

Flynt Leverett comments on the results of the recent Iranian presidential election and discusses the current political landscape in Iran.  Link to video

With a recount announced for the Iranian election, and opposition candidate Mir Hossein Moussavi demanding a fresh election, the political situation in Iran remains on a knife's edge.

We're witnessing the mobilizing power of anti-incumbent forces, particularly youth, who are fed up, and the role of technology in getting voters to the ballot boxes and out on the street.

Nicholas Schmidle discusses what President Obama should do in response to the recent Iranian riots and protests.  Link to audio

In a poll conducted three weeks before Iran's June 12 vote, our nonprofit organizations found a consensus among Iranians, including almost all of those who told us they would vote for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. And that consensus is that Iranians want a truly democratic system.

Given Iranians' own priorities for their government, the events of the past few days may ultimately weaken President Ahmadinejad's standing -- even among those who did vote to re-elect him.

That possibility — a potential military dimension to Iran's nuclear program -- greatly worries Israel, which has hinted that it might attack Iran to disable its nuclear capabilities. Daniel Levy, the co-director of the Middle East task force at the New ...

In a new public opinion poll before Iran's critical June 12 presidential election, by large margins, most Iranians said they support an American-Iranian rapprochement for bringing a new era of peace to the Middle East. Surveyed on a wide range of issues, Iranians overwhelmingly favor better relations with the United States and greater democracy for Iran.

President Barack Obama's historic address to the Muslim world in Cairo tomorrow offers a prime opportunity to outline a new U.S. vision for democracy and human rights in the region. To accomplish this goal, Obama must firmly reject the notion that safeguarding America's strategic interests in the Middle East somehow runs counter to the goal of advancing political reform. Instead he must craft a balanced message that recognizes that reform is synonymous with U.S. interests in the region.

Flynt Leverett, a former Mideast specialist on the National Security Council and advocate of a "grand bargain" between the US and Iran, said the new working group could undermine the credibility of any US offers to Iran. ...

Steve Clemons, director of the American Strategy Program at the Washington-based New America Foundation, says that the Obama administration - and Rudman herself - seem too wedded to supporting the moderate Fatah party, even as its popularity fades, ...

As President Obama sits down with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, beginning an intense two week engagement with Middle East leaders, the new release of a Zogby Interactive survey helps clarify the political landscape here in the United States.