The world is witnessing the current crisis in Iran, where Iranian citizens have taken to the streets to protest what they are calling “rigged” voting results during the recent Presidential election there. Reformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi lost to incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in what Iranian officials say was a landslide victory. Mr. Mousavi denounced the election as rigged, and thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Tehran in protests the scale of which has not been seen in Iran in 30 years. But the surprising side effect as these events unfold, is how this state of emergency is inadvertently undermining the Obama Administration’s outreach to Iranians and Muslims worldwide. `
President Obama has tried to remain neutral amidst the unrest, trying not to meddle in the internal election affairs of another nation, saying: “It is not productive, given the history of U.S.-Iranian relations, to be seen as meddling, the U.S. president meddling in Iranian elections. What I will repeat, and what I said yesterday, is that when I see violence directed at peaceful protesters, when I see peaceful dissent being suppressed, wherever that takes place, it is of concern to me and of concern to the American people.” Nicholas Burns, the former U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs during the Bush administration, praised Mr. Obama for walking a very fine line. “He was very careful not to insert the United States in the middle of this conflict. In fact, he said it’s only the people of Iran who can determine Iran’s future. I think this is the right way forward for President Obama and for the United States to be – of course, committed to human freedom in Iran, but to also say, ‘This is an Iranian struggle, only Iranians can work it out, because of the very complicated relationship that the United States and Iran have had over the last 30 years.'”
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Although the President had pledged to open a dialogue with Tehran, analysts are saying that such a diplomatic opening is a touchy, if not impossible proposition, especially now. The Iranian government has censored the international news media in Tehran by jamming phone and radio transmissions there and sequestering journalists to the confines of their hotel rooms. This is their attempt to prevent the world from witnessing the unrest unfold practically live, although sites, sounds, pictures, and videos of the protests are making its way out via Twitter and the Internet.
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The situation in Iran is already out of control. A recount will not resolve it. What that country needs is a total do over of the election with outside observers to make things right, but still that is a risk. Democracy is alive in Iran.