Obama Administration Reluctant to Criticise Iran Election Results

The Obama administration today maintained a softly-softly approach to Iran, reluctant to criticize its election for fear of derailing Washington's diplomatic overtures to Tehran.

The White House resisted pressure from Republicans who called on Obama to condemn the election as a fraud and to support the reformers.

Obama's spokesman, Robert Gibbs, maintained a cautious approach when questioned by reporters today, refusing to go beyond an expression of concern about the conduct of the election.

Gibbs said: "Obviously, we continue to have concern about what we've seen. Obviously, the Iranians are looking into this, as well. We continue to be heartened by the enthusiasm of young people in Iran. But I think what's important is the concerns that we have about their nuclear weapons programme, and the concern we have about their support for terror isn't any different than it was on Friday."

Obama, in contrast with the Bush administration, wants to hold direct negotiations with the Iranian leadership to try to persuade them to suspend what the US claims is a nuclear weapon program. Iran denies it is seeking a nuclear weapon.

US officials and analysts say privately that it does not make a significant difference to US policy whether Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or his challenger Mirhossein Mousavi is president because nuclear policy is dictated by the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Some even argue that Ahmadinejad as president suits the US better than Mousavi because, if the diplomatic route fails, Ahmadinejad as president will make it easier to persuade Russia and China to agree to United Nations sanctions.Obama has set December as a rough deadline for Tehran to engage with the US on the diplomatic route or face sanctions. Tehran has so far refused to agree to negotiations.

The next test of the Obama administration's diplomatic approach will come as early as next week when the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, is scheduled to attend an international conference in Trieste, Italy, to discuss the crises in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Iran has been invited to attend but has not yet said whether it will.

Obama's presidential opponent last year, John McCain, today expressed disappointment with the apparent outcome of the Iranian election. He told CNN: "We should speak out in opposition to what was clearly a corrupt election."

Michael Leeden, a conservative foreign affairs specialist based in Washington and author of a forthcoming book on Iran, echoed McCain. "I think the silence of the Obama administration is one of the most shameful things I have seen for many years. I am sure they feel trapped. If they criticize the Iranians, they feel they will lessen the chances of negotiations."

The US - and the European Union - is increasingly worried that if the diplomatic route fails, Israel will next year launch military strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities.

Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran specialist at the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, favors direct negotiation but said Ahmadinejad, whom he described as "an insurmountable obstacle to confidence-building with Iran", complicates it.

"I think unfortunately that the prospect of some type of military strike on Iran - an Israeli military strike on Iran - increases significantly if Ahmadinejad remains president. I don't think there's any doubt about that. I think that's a reality," Sadjadpour said.

The European Union, a little less hesitant than the White House, called on Tehran to clarify the election results.

The French foreign ministry spokesman, Eric Chavellier, said Iran's ambassador had been summoned to hear French concerns over "the brutal repression of peaceful protests and the repeated attacks on the liberty of the press and freedom of speech".

A German government spokesman, Thomas Steg, said: "The German government believes the allegations of manipulation of the vote must be examined quickly by the responsible bodies to remove the doubts about this result."