Q&A
Aaron David Miller, Karim Sadjadpour, Robin Wright
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Source: Getty
In The Media
Iran's Referendum Election
With both Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Mir Hossein Mousavi declaring victory in the first few hours into the election on Friday, the incumbent's future remains uncertain, even with the endorsement of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.
Published on Jun 12, 2009
Source: Charlie Rose
"This is very similar to the U.S. presidential election in 2004 between George W. Bush and John Kerry. Even people who were passionately supporting Mousavi, their support was much more passionately against Ahmadinejad than it was for Mousavi. They [Mousavi] have run a remarkable campaign in the sense that they've taken this man of 67 years old, not particularly well-spoken, not particularly charismatic, and they made a phenomenol movement out of it, this green movement. I think that the mood has really shifted in the last week or so. Many people believed in the past that because Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader and Iran's most powerful man, had basically unambigously endorsed Ahmadinejad, that the election would be a foregone conclusion. Mousavi has picked up tremendous steam in the last week or two and I think that if the results come out and they are very skewed in favor of Ahmadinejad, there is going to be major allegations of fraud."
About the Author
Karim Sadjadpour
Senior Fellow, Middle East Program
Karim Sadjadpour is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he focuses on Iran and U.S. foreign policy toward the Middle East.
- What’s Keeping the Iranian Regime in Power—for Now
- How Washington and Tehran Are Assessing Their Next StepsQ&A
Aaron David Miller, David Petraeus, Karim Sadjadpour
Recent Work
Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.
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