Word: mohebbian
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...reformers - and even many of the more prominent conservatives (who call themselves principalists) - considered these attacks outrageous, outside the rules of Iranian politics. "The attacks might have worked with Ahmadinejad's supporters," said Amir Mohebbian, a prominent principalist thinker who backed Ahmadinejad with some reservations. "But they were not good for the system." Indeed, Ahmadinejad's toughest debate was with the other principalist candidate, Mohsen Rezaei, a former commander of the Revolutionary Guards, who challenged the President's inflationary tendency to spend money on direct wealth redistribution - all sorts of stipends for the working class and the poor - while neglecting...
...days before the election, reformers and principalists - including several Ahmadinejad advisers - told me that negotiations with the U.S. were likely, regardless of who won. "But it might be easier for the Supreme Leader to proceed if the tough guy is re-elected than if Mousavi is," said Mohebbian, the prominent principalist. "The negotiating team will be jointly decided by the Supreme Leader and the President. The Leader, who has great doubts about proceeding, will want a tough bargainer...
...conservatives certainly see Moussavi as a more formidable enemy than Khatami. The political editor of the conservative daily Resalat, Amir Mohebbian, said in an interview with the Ghalam website, "If Moussavi enters as the solitary candidate of the reformists, he has high chances of winning in the elections, and if people like Khatami support him as well, he will have the support of young voters too." In the same interview, Mohebbian added, "What is clear is that the fundamentalists prefer him over other reformist candidates," and that Moussavi had more opponents among what Mohebbian called "extremists" in the reform movement...
...willingness to engage in "aggressive personal diplomacy" with the Iranian leadership that has generated the most interest among senior officials in Tehran, since this would mark a sea-change in Washington's approach. "Obama is a man of engagement, a man of negotiations," one Iranian official told TIME. Amir Mohebbian, an analyst close to Iranian conservative politicians, argues that "the mentality of Iranian decision makers is ready for that." He adds: "I think that the coming of Obama - maybe, maybe - helps to solve this problem, but it needs bravery, from both sides...
...interest to end this conflict as swiftly as possible through diplomacy." Although the marines are still formally in custody, Iranians are already weighing the long-term impact of the crisis. "One result might be that the U.S. gets the message that diplomacy is more effective than force," says Mohebbian. "If you can untie a knot with your hands, you're better off than using your teeth...