Iran

Steve Clemons responds to Ari Fleischer's claim that the George W. Bush's tough policies on Iran are responsible for the current reform movement and consequently, the protests against the results of the recent presidential election.

The election results in Iran may reflect the will of the Iranian people. Many experts are claiming that the margin of victory of incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was the result of fraud or manipulation, but our nationwide public opinion survey of Iranians three weeks before the vote showed Ahmadinejad leading by a more than 2 to 1 margin -- greater than his actual apparent margin of victory in Friday's election.

Still, other analysts, such as Afshin Molavi, a fellow at the New America Foundation in Washington, said an Ahmadinejad presidency could lead to better conditions for rapprochement. Conservatives among the Iranian political elite, he said, ...

Steve Clemons, a Washington-based foreign policy analyst spoke to a well-connected Iranian who knows many of the power figures in the Tehran political order. "My contact predicted serious violence at the highest levels. He said that Ahmadinejad is now ...

Reza Aslan, Afshin Molavi, and Nicholas Burns discuss the Iranian elections and what the outcome could mean. Link to video

Steve Clemons, a director at the New America Foundation, said: "Iran will be tied in knots now — for a long time. What worries me about this is the tendency of Iran's leadership to generate external crises and international focal points to try and ...

Flynt Leverett, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation, says he believes this is a real victory for Ahmadinejad. "I think he's won big," Leverett says. "It's going to be interesting to see if Mousavi really persists in his line about election ...

AFSHIN MOLAVI, fellow, New America Foundation: Well, you know, Margaret, this is very common in Iranian presidential elections.

In the 2005 elections, you had four or five candidates declare early victory. So, in a sense...

MARGARET WARNER: But the election commission?

AFSHIN MOLAVI: That's right.

And Afshin Molavi, Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation and author of “Soul of Iran: A Nation's Journey to Freedom." Also joining the discussion is Shappi Khorsandi, a stand-up comedian and author of "A Beginner's Guide to Acting English," to ...

In remarks at the survey's release Monday at the New America Foundation (NAF) here, TFT president Ken Ballen agreed that his findings about the campaign itself may be outdated. He predicted that Ahmadinejad will likely be forced into a run-off but ...