How the U.S. should deal with Ahmadinejad

Ahmadinejad lacks legitimacy among many middle-class, educated Iranians. I know online polls are not reliable, but it's significant how people have responded to a poll I posted last week on my Persian blog.

The question was "Did you accept Khatami's presidency? How about Ahmadinejad's presidency?" and the answers:

14% - Khatami: Yes, Ahmadinejad: Yes
64% - Khatami: Yes, Ahmadinejad: No
3% - Khatami: No, Ahmadinejad: Yes
19% - Khatami: No, Ahmadinejad: No
(Total respondents: 2,355)

It must be alerting to Iranian leaders that respondents who acknowledged Khatami as the president are four times more than those who also know Ahmadinejad as their president.

However, although I personally think his win was fraudulent and don't accept him as the president of Iran, I think the world, especially the U.S., should not do so.

First of all, unlike us as Iranians, they are not in a position to judge about legitimacy of elected officials in other countries without solid evidences.

Secondly, an isolated Iran would be much more harmful than one with which the world and the U.S. is engaged with. Since Khamenei now controls almost all sources of power, it's the best time the U.S. tries to re-establish relations with Iran. If it happened for China during Nixon, why not for Iran? Chinese regime was way less democratic and open than today's Iran.

Ahmadinejad is not popular in Iran despite how the results looked like. But the U.S. will never have a better chance to normalise relations with Iran.