A connoisseur of the vagaries of history. A benevolent patriot. A peace-loving school teacher who has not to-date done any harm to anyone. This is how Iran’s president, Mohammed Ahmadinejab cast himself at a recent press conference. Two weeks later he declared, “Iran is a nuclear country;It has the full gamut of nuclear technology at its disposal”. Such is the mixed message from Tehran that has kept the world guessing. In general, Iranians approve of the nuclear programme, although not all believe official assertions that it is peaceful. As long as the programme threatens neither their wallet nor their security, their enthusiasm for it as an expression of national self-assertion and their irritation of what they see as duplicity of Western nuclear powers, are likely to endure.
Political analysts believe that Mr Ahmadinejab does not decide Iran’s nuclear or foreign policies. These are in the hands of the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khomeini and his lieutenant at the top of the National Security Council, Ali Larijani, a political rival of the president. These men with the support of other religious leaders are the king-makers, the peace-makers and the war-makers.
Tehran’s mixed signals has been further complicated by Iranian Nobel peace laureate, Shirin Ebadi who said that Washington should support women in their pursuit of legitimate right, instead of bringing democracy to people with cluster bombs. She also criticized US support of Saddam Hussein’s regime during the 8 year war between Iran and Iraq in the 1980s.
But who is the real Iranian? A history of Iranian overtures suggests that Iran would dangle concessions on its nuclear programme in return for an end to American efforts to destabilise the nation. In this time of uncertainty, Tehran sees his job as that of managing public opinion.
Portion of story provided by The Economist
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