Last year’s highly controversial presidential election spurred Iran’s largest uprisings since the 1979 revolution. While the government gradually succeeded in violently quashing the opposition momentum, the country’s deep internal rifts remain visible.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's hotly contested victory in Iran's presidential election has led to protests of a size and nature not seen since the 1979 revolution.

Ahmadinejad's threat to external security and internal freedoms is bringing forth an opposition coalition that sees more clearly the dangers of confrontation with the West. A nimble U.S. policy, one that plots a strategy beyond the next Security Council vote, can help these forces inside Iran succeed.

The United States faces mounting concerns about Iran’s quest for a nuclear fuel cycle and the escalating insurgency in Iraq. Listen to a discussion on the prospects for moving beyond the current – and quite possibly dangerous – stalemate in U.S-Iranian relations.