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Iran election looms as battle for votes continues
[Al Arabiya Latest] Iran will choose a new president on Friday in what is emerging as a two-horse race between moderate ex-premier Mir Hossein Mousavi and incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose turbulent four years in office have been marked by a nuclear standoff with the West and deep economic crisis.

The country is gearing up for a tense battle in Friday's election after a campaign of mudslinging and unusually feisty televised debates between the four candidates.

Running alongside Ahmadinejad and Mousavi are reformist ex-parliament speaker Mehdi Karroubi, the only cleric among the candidates, and the conservative former head of the elite Revolutionary Guards Corps, Mohsen Rezai.

Two-horse race
" The core of Iran's foreign policy after the election will revolve around how to respond to Obama's moves and managing the nuclear talks with global powers "
Political analyst Mashaallah Shamsolvaezin

But the race has become a straight fight between Ahmadinejad -- the hardline outspoken son of a blacksmith, and Mousavi -- the last man to hold the post of premier who steered the economy during Iran's war with Iraq in the 1980s.

The next Iranian president will take power at a defining moment for the Islamic republic's foreign policy with diplomatic overtures from American President Barack Obama offering a chance to turn the page.

For years Iran has derided the United States as the "Great Satan," while Obama's predecessor George W. Bush labeled Tehran part of an "axis of evil" and refused to rule out military action over Iran's nuclear program.

But now Tehran has an opportunity to mend three decades of broken relations with Washington and pursue a negotiated solution to the nuclear standoff with the West which has seen the U.N. Security Council impose three sets of sanctions.

The next president will not take the big decisions -- the Iranian political system gives the final say on strategic issues to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. But whoever wins this month's election will play the key role in implementing the policy and handling what may be a turning point in Iran's relations with the outside world.

"The core of Iran's foreign policy after the election will revolve around how to respond to Obama's moves and managing the nuclear talks with global powers," political analyst Mashaallah Shamsolvaezin told AFP.

"Until now, it was easy for Iran to blast the United States, especially after what Bush did," Shamsolvaezin said.
Posted by: Fred 2009-06-10
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=271642