President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran formally begins his second term this week after “winning” his disputed election. The June 12th election and the aftermath, which saw thousands of protesters take to the streets of Tehran, has complicated U.S. plans to forge a new engagement with Iran. This report in The New York Times notes the growing assertiveness of domestic opposition to Ahmadinejad. Will Iran now turn inward to deal with their electoral crisis, frustrating U.S. efforts to reach out to Iran, or will the new opposition movement create opportunities for U.S. diplomacy? The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace recently hosted a panel of leading experts to discuss the future of U.S. policy toward Iran. In this video entitled “Iran’s Clenched Fist: Should the United States Extend or Withdraw Its Hand?” Roger Cohen of The New York Times, Ali Ansari of the University of St. Andrews, George Perkovich of the Carnegie Nonproliferation Program, and Carnegie’s Karim Sadjadpour discuss prospects for engaging Iran in the continuing Ahmadinejad era.
