Word: parsi
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...incidents, click here. Be warned that the photo contains graphic content.) Although the authorities have been trying to tamp down the protests, partly by agreeing to hear complaints about the conduct of the election from opposition candidates, firing on crowds could have the exact opposite effect. As Trita Parsi noted below, those who protested today took to the streets despite warnings that live ammunition may be used against them. He believes they've lost their fear. And the problem for the authorities is that making martyrs out of demonstrators gives the protest movement its own momentum: regardless of the state...
Reports out of Tehran describe security forces shooting at protesters. No word yet on how widespread this shooting is or on casualties. (To see a photo from one of the incidents, click here. Be warned that the photo contains graphic content.) Trita Parsi, a U.S.-based Iran expert and head of the National Iranian-American Council, tells TIME that the hundreds of thousands of opposition supporters on the streets today have been emboldened by Supreme Leader Ayatullah Ali Khamenei's backing down from his initial certification of the election result. "He came out first and said the results were certified...
...ambivalence is wariness toward Obama's diplomatic overture. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei recently took note of Obama's kind words for Iran, but he questioned whether the new U.S. President was simply concealing an iron fist with a velvet glove. Although revolutionary ideology animates Iranian actions and rhetoric, Parsi believes that geopolitics is the main factor driving the Iranian regime's attitudes toward Israel and the U.S. In his book Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran and the U.S., Parsi details a 2003 peace plan in which Iran essentially agreed to abandon terrorism and support Arab-Israeli peace...
...even as Iran appears to be showing more confidence in the sincerity of Obama's olive branch, other doubts may be guiding Iran's response. One of them, Parsi says, is concern about whether Obama will be able to muster the political strength to pull off a rapprochement with Iran's leaders. "They are increasingly convinced that Obama is serious and that he is pursuing something that is more strategic than tactical," Parsi says. "But the question remains: Can he deliver on this?" Seen in this context, the jailing of Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi on spy charges last week...
...Parsi's concern is that Iran will demand that Obama grant a major concession as an incentive to negotiate, ironically adopting the Bush Administration's policy of setting preconditions for talks. What may be holding the regime back, Parsi says, is a fear of failure. If Tehran snubs Obama's olive branch, it will come under domestic and international pressure amid rising calls for more sanctions. But, Parsi says, the Iranians may worry that if they enter talks that then collapse, either because Obama was setting a trap or because he couldn't hold his part of the bargain, that...