Q&A
Aaron David Miller, Karim Sadjadpour, Robin Wright
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Source: Getty
In The Media
Political Considerations in the Roxana Saberi Case
In a twist to the case of Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for her rights to be respected, following her eight year sentencing on charges of espionage.
Published on Apr 21, 2009
Source: NewsHour with Jim Lehrer
He explains that Ahmadinejad is "in a delicate position. [O]n one hand, his most powerful clerical backers believe that it is one of the fundamental pillars of the revolution, and one of central identities of the Islamic republic to retain an adversarial relationship with the United States. On the other hand, it is an election year and two months from now he is up for re-election and he is presiding over a very young population which is overwhelmingly in favor of a normalization of relations with the United States. So I think we are going to continue to see these inconsistencies with Ahmadinejad. One week he is going to denounce the United States, the next week maybe he is going to send more favorable signals. [I] can see a scenario whereby he comes out and pardons her to project this magnanimous image, as he did with the British sailors two years ago."
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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