Post-election crisis in Iran

THE warning which Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has voiced against any violence in the aftermath of the recent presidential elections has had a stern tenor about it. One reads this into his speech on Friday against the backdrop of the controversy centering on the outcome of the election.
For its part, the opposition has appeared determined to continue its protests through organizing a rally in Tehran. Indeed, Mir Hossein Mousavi, the defeated candidate, and his supporters remain convinced that the election was stolen in favour of incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and so was not fair. The air is thus rife with confrontationist proclivities. It is our expectation that such an inclination toward a showdown will with foresight be quickly replaced by a mood of reconciliation. Violence can only push Iran into deeper trouble.
It is fairly obvious by now that much internal dissension marks the Iranian political scene today. With personalities like former president Ali Hashemi Rafsanjani taking a stand against Ahmadinejad before the election and now Mousavi unwilling to acknowledge the president's victory, Iranian politics --- and for the first time since the Islamic revolution overthrew the monarchy three decades ago --- is at a critical juncture. It is noticeable that Iran, which has refused to heed western concerns about its nuclear programme, now finds itself in a situation where its election results have come under question. The Iranian leadership must, therefore, now convince its own people that the election results were a fair reflection of the popular will. For the Iranian authorities to do that, it is important that all doubts be removed from the minds of the Iranian electorate about the results of the election. Clearly, the Tehran authorities must inform Iranians how comprehensively the votes were counted. This must be done in a fully transparent way, to the satisfaction of the Iranian voters. The best course open to the authorities seems to be to engage the opposition in a constructive dialogue leading to a peaceful resolution of the imbroglio.
A speedy resolution of the problem is essential. But such an approach can only be made easier if the confrontational position adopted by Ayatollah Khamenei is eschewed in favour of a conciliatory and persuasive position. At the same time, it should be for outside powers to bear in mind that it is for the Iranian people themselves to resolve the crisis. Happily, though, global reaction to the Iran situation has been restrained. It should stay that way, even as earnest efforts are made to resolve the crisis.