The Iranian economy is in dire straits and there is no reason to believe that Ahmadinejad and his mullahs will leave themselves open to international ridicule by waiting for an election that they will surely lose ....

Ahmadinejad and Khatami are the same evil, only the former keeps his mouth shut more often.

Ahmadnajad or khatamei will make no diffrence. Nither of them is allowed to run Iran. Ayatollah Khmanie is the one who controls everthing. The rest are just figure heads.

If Khatemei gets elected, the world will see him as a more moderate political figure. Iran will continue to develop nuclear weapons and the world may not unite against what it sees as a moderate leader.

I am sorry, but did Iran stop their nuclear program between 97 - 05 when Khatami was in power? Or was it only for fuel during those periods and after Ahmadinejad came to power, the missle program and nuclear weapons program started?

israel should make aggressive and well publicized attempts to 'reach out to him', perhaps 'write him a letter' etc. his responses should be evaluated for the world to see. if obama can talk the iranians, than so should the iranians... if khatami still calls israel a cancer which must be wiped out, then he will be revealed as being no different than his predecessors. the true face of iran (whatever it is) should be unmasked.

Very interesting point; thanks for making it. There is something to be said for Iran being a pariah state in the world.

All of the talkbacks understand that the 'supreme leader' Khameni calls the shots together with his ;council of guardians'. They all support Ahmedinajad but realise that he is hurting Iran with his big mouth and evil threats which, ironically, have empahsised to the world Iran's goal vis-a-vis Israel. Don't expect anything better from Khatemi; like all the other presidents since 1979 he is opposed to Israel's existence. At least we all know that.

Not true at all - Khomenei may have the theoretical last word in Iran, but he has both a tradition of not speaking often and the actual risks of overuse of his power. The president of Iran, as a result, does have reasonable power (constrained by parliament, the guardian council, and the supreme leader, but nontheless).

To #4, after comment of Ahmadinejad about Holocaust , Khatami said even one innocent Jew was killed that was too many. You hate a radical also you have hard time with a moderate who wants to have dialogue ? Make up your mind, do you want to fight all the time? Do you have hard time to live in peace? To #3 Iranian leader has a last word, but president is free to be confrontetional just as Ahmadinejad is, while most of Arabs like him, or a man of peace and reform like Khatami whom he is respected by majority of Iranians. If a free election is held in Jordan or any Arab country a fanatic and ulter religious radical man like Ahmadinejad will be chosen by your people.

On February 14, 2005, Ayatollah Mohammad Baqer Kharrazi, secretary general of the Iranian Hezbollah, declared, "We are able to produce atomic bombs and we will do that. We shouldn't be afraid of anyone. The United States is not more than a barking dog." And, on May 29, 2005, Hojjat al-Eslam Gholam Reza Hasani, the supreme leader's personal representative to the province of West Azerbaijan, declared possession of nuclear weapons to be one of Iran's top goals. "An atom bomb . . . must be produced," he said. "That is because the Quran has told Muslims to 'get strong and amass all the forces at your disposal.'" More at (3 parts): http://xrl.us/owrbs

What a load of nonsense! Anyone who has a modicum of intelligence knows that no one goes to the toilet in Iran without the permission of the Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei! Ahmadinejad wouldn't dare to deny the Holocaust and advocate the destruction of Israel and its people without the sanction of the Grand Ayatollah. The Presidency in Iran is just window dressing for a fanatical regime which hates Israel because it support the Shah!

Chance for a change with Iran. Yeah. Two chances. Slim and none. As my old Gunny Sgt. would say. "Crap in one have and wish in the other. See which fills up first." Author Bechor needs to drink better booze or LOTS more cheaper stuff.

The supreme leader (the ayatollah) is the one who appointed Ahmedinijad over Khatami after the previous election even though Khatami WON the popular vote. The Ayatollah still has the last word and there's no reason to think that these Iranian elections will be different from the previous ones. I know this from Sever Plocker's article from a few years ago when he interviewed Khatami, who really has a positive opinion of jews and Israel.

Those ding-dong clerics will always be lurking in the background, ready to move like lightning once they perceive an internal threat within the governmental structure.

It is amazing how people can invent ways and come up with all sorts of pretext to avoid issues.Khatami did much more than Nejad in developing Iranian nuclear and missile techonolgies.If he wins he would continue and yet with better PR for Iran .