http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/news/world/11873307.htmA generation after Iran's Islamic Revolution enshrined the United States as the "Great Satan," some top Iranian politicians have concluded that their best strategy for Friday's presidential election is not vilifying the West but embracing it. In speeches, posters and even Web logs, would-be presidents of Iran are jockeying not over who can speed up development of nuclear technology but who might restore relations with the United States.
"They know the will and the wishes of the people and they want to make a breakthrough with the United States," said former diplomat Davoud Hermidas Bavand, a professor of international law at Tehran University.
The prospect of restoring a quarter-century of broken ties contrasts sharply with the mounting tension between the United States and Iran over Tehran's nuclear efforts, which the U.S. suspects could be for military use. But the issue of normalizing relations with the United States highlights the widening gap between a young, reform-hungry population and Iran's regime.
Beyond the diplomatic wrangling, a large if uncertain number of Iranians say they would rather live with the United States than struggle against it.
Iranians routinely say they have a national right to develop nuclear technology. But when asked in interviews to make a choice between nuclear power and an economic and political relationship with the United States, many pick the latter.
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