From Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Iranian filmmaker and external spokesman for Mir Hossein Mousavi, telling Foreign Policy magazine that rapprochement with Iran will only happen when both Iran and the United Status have leaders willing to put aside bluster and pursue real engagement:
FP: Would Mousavi pursue a different foreign policy than Ahmadinejad?
MM: As you may know, former President Mohammad Khatami, who is supporting Mousavi at the moment, was in favor of
dialogue between the civilizations, but Ahmadinejad talks about the war of the civilizations. Is there not any difference between the two?
We are a bit unfortunate. When we had our Obama [meaning President Khatami], that was the time of President Bush in the United States. Now that [the United States] has Obama, we have our Bush here [in Iran]. In order to resolve the problems between the two countries, we should have two Obamas on the two sides. It doesn’t mean that everything depends on these two people, but this is one of the main factors.
Actually, Khatami served most of his first term during Bill Clinton’s non-blustery presidency, but at the time both presidents were too afraid of conservative backlash at home to make any real progress in U.S.-Iranian relations anyway. Still, Makhmalbaf is right that it’s more helpful than the alternative. Keep your fingers crossed.
