Obama’s Win Inspires Hope in Iran’s Intelligentsia

Roshanak Taghavi reports from Tehran on Iran’s reaction to the U.S. election. Iran’s economic intelligentsia pondered Wednesday what a win for Barack Obama will mean for the Islamic regime and its testy relations with Washington. Working under tough banking sanctions from the U.S. and wider economic sanctions from both America and the United Nations, some election observers in Tehran said they held out hope that a President Obama would help resolve long-standing security and political issues between the two countries. Saeed Leylaz, an economist, frequent critic of the government and editor of the Sarmaye newspaper, said Obama’s election could also have an impact on the country’s domestic politics. If the new president makes it clear that the U.S. isn’t out to change the Islamic republic’s regime, it will reduce the influence of more radical elements in Iran who took a hard-line stance against the Bush administration’s antagonism. “Tehran supposed that the U.S. wants to destroy the ... (link)