Skip to main content

Post-Ahmadinejad Iran: A New Challenge to the West

Shlomi Eldar argues that with the upcoming elections in Iran, the international community should try another, more conciliatory approach. 
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad waves to supporters during a ceremony to swear Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro (not pictured) into office, in Caracas April 19, 2013. Maduro was sworn in as Venezuela's president on Friday at a ceremony attended by several countries' leaders, after a decision to widen an electronic audit of the vote took some of the heat out of a dispute over his election. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins (VENEZUELA - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS) - RTXYSR0
Read in 

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinehad has just a few months left in office. People in Iran, as well as in the West, are expected to sigh in relief when he finally exits center stage and leaves the presidential office as soon as the elections, scheduled for June 14, 2013, are finally over.

I am well-aware of the attitude that this particular Iranian president was “good for the Jews.” It is an approach that I have even seen expressed on this very website. According to this particular perspective, Ahmadinejad’s fundamentalism and his anti-Semitic comments were a strategic and public relations boon for Israel and its efforts to recruit the international community against Iran’s nuclear program. I dispute that point of view.

Access the Middle East news and analysis you can trust

Join our community of Middle East readers to experience all of Al-Monitor, including 24/7 news, analyses, memos, reports and newsletters.

Subscribe

Only $100 per year.