planet earth looks blue

Iran’s former President, Mohammed Khatami announced that he would run in this summer’s elections.  Khatami, who led the nation from 1997 until 2005, is a much more moderate, pro-western politician then the present President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, known for his extreme anti-Israel, anti-American tone.  Khatami won his election with an overwhelming majority based on a platform of liberalization and reform, preaching the benefits of a tolerant civil society, and a state with positive diplomatic relations abroad.  He even expressed regret for the Iran hostage situation during the Islamist Revolution in 1979.  Due to opposition in other parts of the Iranian government, Khatami wasn’t able to accomplish his vision of a more liberal Iran.  

It will be difficult for Khatami to defeat a man as passionate as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.  The incumbent has the support of both the Supreme Leader as well as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, and all of the populace comfortable with a more nationalistic regime.  But if anyone can replace Ahmadinejad, it seems that Khatami is the candidate.  And with the shaky oil market and declining world economy, Iran may be ready for change like the rest of us.  Ali Larijani, a prominent Iranian lawmaker, spoke in Spain yesterday about American-Iranian relations, among other things.  He declared his hope for President Obama to change America’s hardline stance on his nation, and his expectations for a better future between the two countries.  Larijani suggested a loosening of the embargoes against Iran to act on America’s verbal promise of good faith.  With the possibility of Obama and Khatami sitting at the table after the elections, we all can certainly hope for a more appeasing future - one without the growing nuclear tensions.  

Even if Khatami is elected however, the fact of the matter remains that the President of Iran is second in command.  The Iranian scepter of power lies in the hands of the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameni.  No political decision becomes law without the Supreme Leader’s consent.  Even the President must be approved by him.  Ali Khameni has had a long history in Iranian politics, with a marked by an extreme conservative viewpoint.  He was President from 1981 until 1989, and worked to rid Iran of “deviation, liberalism, and American-influenced leftists”.  During the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980’s, Khameni was very active in the military decisions, and very aware of whose side America was on - Saddam Hussein’s.  He followed the much revered Ayatollah Khomeini as Supreme Leader in 1989.  

Once again, like in America last November, today in Israel, and this summer in Iran, we wait for the elections.  At least there is one thing we can always count on in our modern democratic world order - change.