Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Continuing unrest following allegations of fraud in Iran's presidential election has created a leadership crisis for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.
The continued unrest in Iran has called into question how different Mousavi's policies would be compared to Ahmadinejad.
Iranian protests in the past have always pitted the people against the regime. Demonstrations over the presidential election outcome are different because of the unprecedented fissures amongst the revolutionary elite themselves.
The Obama administration has wisely taken a cautious approach to reacting to the unrest in Iran and allegations of election fraud.
The surprise announcement that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had won outright the first round of Iran’s presidential election has been met with widespread allegations of fraud and domestic unrest.
A recent heated televised debate between Iran's two leading presidential candidates and accusations of corruption by President Ahmadinejad toward leading clerics, have called into question whether the incumbent still has the backing of Iran's conservative political establishment.
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.
Obama's speech to the Muslim world focused on two of the main obstacles to making progress on the Israeli-Palestinian dispute: violence by Palestinians against Israelis and settlement acitvities by Israelis in the West Bank.
President Obama's recent address to the Muslim world dissapointed many democracy promotion supporters, who felt it did not strongly address the issue.
The Egyptian government sees President Obama's decision to address the Muslim world from Cairo as a validation of its importance in the region.