Iranian in U.S. takes on Tehran

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Future presidents of Iran's Islamic republic are not typically found in the Rutgers University faculty lounge, but Hooshang Amirahmadi argues that extraordinary times in his native country call for extraordinary measures.

A longtime activist for better U.S.-Iranian relations and director of the New Jersey school's Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Mr. Amirahmadi last week joined a crowded list of candidates for Iran's June 17 presidential election.

His agenda: normalize ties with Washington, establish a coalition government of national unity and implement many of the political and economic reforms blocked by hard-liners during the two four-year terms of departing President Mohammed Khatami.

"It is not a symbolic gesture. I am serious," he said in an interview Thursday during a brief trip to Washington before traveling to Iran to campaign.

"Right now, my biggest challenge isn't being accepted by the Iranian people. It's being accepted by the [hard-line] Guardians Council and even being allowed to run," he added.

Iranian analysts say the June 17 vote will shine a stark light on the state of Iran's troubled Islamic republic, a quarter-century after the revolution that overthrew the U.S.-backed shah.

Mr. Khatami's overwhelming victories in 1997 and 2001 showed the deep unpopularity of thehard-line religious establishment led by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

However, the widespread disappointment with Mr. Khatami's record in office also showed that the hard-liners retain a firm grasp on the levers of real power, which they demonstrated again last year by disqualifying so many reformist candidates that Iran's parliament was left dominated by regime allies.

The political and economic stagnation has developed as Iran faces two huge foreign-policy challenges -- the postwar chaos in neighboring Iraq and global suspicions that Tehran is secretly developing nuclear weapons.

Disillusionment and apathy are so common among Iranian voters that most expect turnout to be far lower next month than the 80 percent who voted in 1997 and the 66.8 percent who turned out four years later.