Why is Obama Speaking Softly about Iranian Election? Ask North Korea

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS
by Alyssa Morin

As the world watches and twitters about the protests in Iran following the controversial June 12 reelection of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and some question President Obama's modest response to the events, an important piece of the Iran political puzzle has gone mostly unnoticed.

Last Thursday, June 11, the Pentagon announced that Iran has been collaborating with North Korea on ballistic missiles, sharing information about materials and avionics for these carriers of nuclear warheads, and have both reached the capacity to launch missiles with more than one stage. Released by the Federation of American Scientists, the report claims that, by 2015, Iran could develop an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the United States.

The New York Times reported yesterday that even Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have joined a slew of Republicans encouraging President Obama to speak out more strongly against the Iranian election, in which the incumbent was declared victorious after a mere few hours of ballot-counting, an absurdly inadequate period of time to count the millions of paper votes. Protestors, largely supporters of the reform candidate, Mir Hosein Mousavi, have stormed the streets of Tehran and have been met with violence resulting in the deaths of at least seven.

Obama did not respond to the controversy until he was directly asked to do so at press conferences on Monday and Tuesday.  Even then, he was reluctant to say more than that, while he denounces the violent response to protestors, the Iranians should and will choose their next leader without any interference from the United States.

It seems that the President may be taking such a cautious route in order to ensure that, no matter who ends up leading Iran, he will be able to engage the leader diplomatically.  Obama's approach to controlling Iran's nuclear ambition has been focused on applying tougher economic sanctions on the country and, to do so, he needs the help of Russia.  With the news of Iran's collaboration with North Korea and its increasing nuclear capabilities, cooperation from Russia is now even more critical for Obama.

Moscow supplies Iran with much of its arms and is helping the country build its nuclear reactor at Bushehr.  Russian President Dmitri Medvedev has made clear that he would be more likely to support stronger sanctions against Iran if he saw Obama move away from the aggressive approach President Bush took in dealing with the region.

Conservatives like John McCain, who have criticized the President for not admonishing Iran's mock-democratic process, seem to place the need for a strong support of Iran's call for democracy over the need for diplomacy with Tehran's leader in order to contain their nuclear threat. If Ahmadinejad remains leader, the possibility of improving our relationship with Iran could be greatly diminished by outspoken criticism against the regime now.  And if we lose the opportunity to improve relations with Iran, we lose the respect and support of Russia, our most valuable ally in controlling Iran's nuclear capacity.

Ironically, the President's comments about the Iranian election on Tuesday came at the end of a press conference with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak discussing North Korea's recent nuclear threats. While Obama implied that Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons was a factor in his careful response to their election, no comment was made about Iran's collaboration with North Korea nor the recent strides in its nuclear program.

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS
by Alyssa Morin

Technorati Tags: Analysis Iran Obama nuclear North Korea election Mousavi Medvedev Ahmadinejad South Korea