The Iranian presidential election between the incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his three challengers, Mir Hussein Moussavi, Mehdi Karrubi and Mohsen Rezaie is generally considered a flawed exercise in electoral politics.  If you are an observer of global events, even on a casual level, you have been paying attention to the current demonstrations going on in and around Tehran and other urban centers.  This article discusses the recent events surrounding the June 12th election and what options lay ahead for the United States and what might possibly unfold in Iran over the short and long term. 

As of June 22nd, the 12-member Guardian Council, on the direction of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is overseeing claims by Mir Hussein Moussavi and others of voter fraud. The Guardian Council, for clarification purposes, is an oversight board of mullahs and jurists who ostensibly are charged with certifying nation-wide votes for a wide swath of offices.  The council has found that upwards of 3 million votes are suspect.  These 3 million votes will not award the election to Mir Hussein Moussavi, the largest vote getter behind Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.  As it stands, the incumbent president won 64.7% of the vote, out of 35 million votes, to Moussavi’s 32.2%.