Washington should engage Iran -- expert

WASHINGTON, June 16 (UPI) -- Washington may need to push ahead with engagement with Iran despite the sense that the clerical leadership in Tehran does not need legitimacy to stay in power.

Iran's Supreme Leader Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei endorsed the outcome of the disputed presidential elections Friday that secured a second term for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The supreme leader is the ultimate authority in Iran, relegating the presidency to a secondary leadership role at best.

Iranian observers had expected modest manipulation at the polls as the clerical leadership sought to lend an air of legitimacy to the political system, but that assessment proved to be incorrect, notes Suzanne Maloney, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

"For Khamenei, stability does not require legitimacy, and when forced to choose, the regime will sacrifice the latter for the former," she writes.

Washington has stepped lightly on the issue as the streets of Tehran erupted in mayhem in the wake of the disputed elections.

Maloney notes U.S. President Barack Obama had not linked his policy of engagement with Iran directly to the leadership in Tehran. Though a defeated Ahmadinejad would be favorable, Washington should move ahead with its objectives when the political turmoil in Iran subsides.

"Obama has to be prepared to move forward with diplomacy despite the wholesale setback for Iran's limited democracy," Maloney advises.