Iran goes to the polls in pivotal election
The international spotlight is on Iran's election today as never before. As the votes are counted, Ploughshares-funded experts will continue to provide insight and commentary on the significance of the election for international diplomacy and the future of Iran's nuclear program.
Iranian voters are "thinking about the economy," Trita Parsi told ABC News. "And there seems to be increasing thinking about Iran's standing in the region and in the world as a whole." Karim Sadjadpour of the Carnegie Endowment said in an interview with NPR's Morning Edition that President Ahmadinejad's status as frontrunner has dropped dramatically in the past week, and that the race is now wide open. Iranian-American analyst and Ploughshares Fund board member Reza Aslan told CNN that although challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi is "a little bit more of a moderate when it comes to the nuclear issue ... all four candidates agreement with Iran's right to develop nuclear." Nevertheless, Aslan said that all four candidates also "recognize it's time to open up to America and to the international community because there's no other option with regard to the economy."
