Salon.com > Hooman Majd

Ahmadinejad’s own U.S. presidential campaign

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 10:21:00 +0000

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad returned to New York this week to attend the opening of the United Nations General Assembly for his fourth visit -- and perhaps his last, should he fail to win reelection in next summer's Iranian presidential contest. But he aims to be reelected in June 2009, and his trip here revolved precisely around that goal.

Ahmadinejad clearly relished his opportunity on Tuesday to speak to the world from the same stage that the U.S. president does, and on the same day. But he also enjoys spending as much time as he can with the media, members of think tanks, and even college audiences during his short, State Department-restricted sojourns on American soil. As such, this year he hosted two iftar dinners (it still being the month of Ramadan). One was exclusively for Iranians and Iranian-Americans living in the Tri-State area -- at least those on a list of citizens the Iranian government maintains as not opposing the Islamic regime. The other was for American think-tank scholars whom the Iranian delegation views as important. Needless to say, Haleh Esfandiary of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, who spent some months in jail in Tehran in 2007, was not invited, although two of her colleagues were.

McCain on Iran: Bush all over again

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 10:59:00 +0000

In the race for the White House, John McCain has trumpeted Iran as a paramount threat to the United States (and its close ally Israel), and has asserted that Iran will be the No. 1 foreign policy problem facing the next administration. McCain uses Iran as a prime example of what he depicts as his opponent Barack Obama's naive and guileless approach to U.S. foreign policy. Just like the president he hopes to succeed, McCain has sought to deploy Iran as a political weapon of mass destruction.

In an interview with the Atlantic in late May, McCain said that "Iran is hell-bent on the destruction of Israel, they're hell-bent on driving us out of Iraq, they're hell-bent on supporting terrorist organizations, and as serious as anything to American families, they're sending explosive devices into Iraq that are killing American soldiers." In a speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee this month, McCain again mocked Obama's willingness to enter into dialogue with the Iranians, saying, "The idea that they now seek nuclear weapons because we refused to engage in presidential-level talks is a serious misreading of history."

A new face for American diplomacy

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 11:16:00 +0000

When I was in Tehran, Iran, a year ago, I was asked by several senior government officials, including former President Mohammad Khatami, what to make of Barack Obama's candidacy for president of the United States. The young senator from Illinois was still barely on the international radar then. My response was that I couldn't see Americans nominating, let alone electing, a black man whose middle name was Hussein. My answer, clearly wrong in hindsight, stirred smiles and raised eyebrows among the Iranian leaders because they'd had no idea that Obama had a Muslim father. Even more surprising to them was that he carried, apparently without shame, a Muslim name. From Khatami this elicited an "Ajab!" -- Farsi for, essentially, "You've got to be kidding!" There were also many nods of agreement with my conclusion about Obama's chances.

Ahmadinejad’s New York state of mind

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 21:00:00 +0000

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran wrapped up his trip to New York on Wednesday and headed south for Bolivia and Venezuela, where he will undoubtedly meet with a kinder reception than the one afforded him by Americans this week. Much has been made of the Iranian president's proposed-but-thwarted trip to ground zero, his controversial appearance at Columbia University and his theatrical speech at the U.N. But lost in all the criticisms and caricatures of Ahmadinejad as statesman -- which are often wildly off-mark in terms of gauging the president's overall authority and influence in Iran -- has been serious consideration of what his now yearly trips to attend the U.N. General Assembly signify for the Iranian political landscape and for the future of Iran's foreign policy.

I've had the opportunity to attend events with President Ahmadinejad on his three trips to the U.S. (including serving as the interpreter for his U.N. speeches for the last two), and have spent time with his aides and Iranian diplomats during the New York visits. This visit felt perhaps the most politically charged yet, and was certainly the most controversial, even for the Iranians. But amid all the theatrics, Ahmadinejad's political savvy and strategic intentions in New York should not be underestimated.

Bush’s big Iran problem

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 10:27:00 +0000

Whenever the issue of an exit strategy for Iraq becomes headline news, as it seems to often in this summer of discontent for George W. Bush, I am reminded of a story from my days in the music business. Legend had it that back in the glory days of payola and illegal and quasi-legal business practices in the 1960s, a young entrepreneur set up shop hoping to cash in on a terrain that seemed to be wide open, little regulated and required no specific skills. A well-known independent record promoter (indeed, it was still called the "record business" then) with ties to an unnamed Italian organization visited this upstart, and suggested that large sums of cash could be paid to ensure radio play for any act that the entrepreneur would market. "How can I be sure that if I pay you my records will get played?" the record promoter pressed. "You're asking yourself the wrong question," was the entrepreneur's reply. "You shouldn't wonder whether your records will get played if you pay me. You should ask yourself whether I can stop your records from being played if you don't." Needless to say, the executive paid, his records got played and he built a successful label.

The tortuous road to Tehran

Mon, 21 May 2007 11:10:00 +0000

Lately, it has been easy to wonder whether the Bush administration has fallen into complete disarray when it comes to its Iran policy. Judging by its actions in recent months, it is difficult to see whether the White House truly wants war or wants détente with Iran, a card-carrying member of George W. Bush's "axis of evil" and more than ever a linchpin of the Middle East. On the one hand we have the provocative roundup of Iranians inside Iraq and further bellicosity from Vice President Dick Cheney. On the other, we have diplomatic meetings between the U.S. and Iranian officials not seen in decades, important if not critical to shoring up the mess in Iraq.

Whether or not this seemingly schizophrenic approach is intentional, and I suspect it is not, it will produce some interesting consequences of its own. The irony is that the apparent disarray in and mixed messages from Washington may be quite effective toward Bush's apparent goal of weakening the Iranian leadership. A vacillation between threats of war and diplomatic engagement may hurt the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad because it helps preserve a stagnant political status quo inside Iran -- and that leaves Ahmadinejad's citizens, who are suffering from a sharp economic decline under his leadership, increasingly restless. Inside Iran there has been talk of imminent war with the United States for at least two years now. But war has not come, and at some point the distraction from other concerns wears thin, allowing day-to-day problems, such as the soaring price of tomatoes, vegetables and other commodities to take over.

How Iran played the hostage “crisis”

Thu, 05 Apr 2007 11:04:00 +0000

The so-called crisis over the Iranian capture of 15 British sailors and Marines in the Persian Gulf ended rather quickly, perhaps to the dismay of some who may have been looking for a prolonged standoff to provide a casus belli for armed intervention. The way the crisis started and why will be the subject of numerous analyses for days to come. But the way it ended -- as a "gift to the British people," in the formulation of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad -- was Persian grandiosity at its finest, and a political victory for the beleaguered leader.

Most Iranians, including many in government, were on holiday when the British sailors from the HMS Cornwall were captured by a naval unit of the Revolutionary Guards on March 23. The Iranian new year, which begins with the official ushering in of spring and runs until its 13th day (coincidence, perhaps, that the British captives were freed exactly 13 days after the capture?), is a time when even the newspapers cease to publish. Tehran, one of the most crowded cities in the world, becomes a comparative ghost town. (Think Paris in August.) Some have suggested that Iran's seizing the British sailors was a premeditated move to rally popular support around the government, or to distract the population from other, namely nuclear, issues. But those notions were clearly preposterous to any Iranian observer; the fact that there was little coverage of the "crisis" inside Iran, at least early on, made that abundantly clear.

The view from Tehran

Wed, 21 Feb 2007 12:10:00 +0000

At the local greengrocer on the corner of Hedayat and Safi Alishah, in the decidedly unchic downtown section of Tehran where I'm staying, the fruits and vegetables are stacked high in perfectly formed pyramids. A dilapidated pickup truck parked in front and loaded with fruit stacked in boxes serves as a billboard for passing motorists as well as extra square footage for the store. Oranges are most visible, a plentiful and cheap winter fruit, but tomatoes, a virtual staple in Persian cooking, are practically out of sight. Tomatoes, it seems, have become a valuable commodity in Iran these days, much to the dismay of everyone, including those in the corridors of power, for whom a kebab, salad or stew without tomatoes is an affront to the palate.

I was born in Tehran and speak fluent Farsi, though I largely grew up in Europe and the United States. I have been traveling to Iran over the past three years, returning again in mid-January for six weeks to continue researching a book I'm writing on Iran and Iranians.