From Times Online
June 17, 2009
President Obama has ruled out direct intervention in the electoral turmoil in Iran, warning that US attempts to interfere will backfire and that America has little to gain by throwing in its lot with the opposition.
But his public reluctance to interfere has been undermined by the actions of the State Department, which took the unusual step of asking Twitter to delay planned maintenance work so that Iranian protesters can continue to use it to post images and reports of unrest.
But Mr Obama said that America had no long term interest in backing Mir Hossein Mousavi, the opposition candidate who is disputing the poll results that returned Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's right wing president, to power with a thumping – and, to some analysts, improbable – 63 per cent of the vote.
"It is not productive, given the history of US-Iranian relations, to be seen as meddling - the US president, meddling in Iranian elections," Mr Obama told CNBC television.
"It’s important to understand that although there is amazing ferment taking place in Iran, the difference between Ahmadinejad and Mousavi in terms of their actual policies may not be as great as has been advertised," he said.
"Either way we were going to be dealing with an Iranian regime that has historically been hostile to the United States, that has caused some problems in the neighbourhood and has been pursuing nuclear weapons."
June 17, 2009
President Obama has ruled out direct intervention in the electoral turmoil in Iran, warning that US attempts to interfere will backfire and that America has little to gain by throwing in its lot with the opposition.
But his public reluctance to interfere has been undermined by the actions of the State Department, which took the unusual step of asking Twitter to delay planned maintenance work so that Iranian protesters can continue to use it to post images and reports of unrest.
But Mr Obama said that America had no long term interest in backing Mir Hossein Mousavi, the opposition candidate who is disputing the poll results that returned Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's right wing president, to power with a thumping – and, to some analysts, improbable – 63 per cent of the vote.
"It is not productive, given the history of US-Iranian relations, to be seen as meddling - the US president, meddling in Iranian elections," Mr Obama told CNBC television.
"It’s important to understand that although there is amazing ferment taking place in Iran, the difference between Ahmadinejad and Mousavi in terms of their actual policies may not be as great as has been advertised," he said.
"Either way we were going to be dealing with an Iranian regime that has historically been hostile to the United States, that has caused some problems in the neighbourhood and has been pursuing nuclear weapons."
