Iran doesn't like sanctions, or does it?

Iran's chief nuclear negotiator has written to Britain, France and Germany to call for the resumption of talks over its atomic program, the semi-official Fars news agency said on Sunday. Fars said the letter from Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, was handed to the ambassadors of the three European Union powers, who have led talks with Tehran on behalf of the EU.

However, the trio, when dealing with Iran, should take this into account:

But class warfare is not the only reason why rich mullahs hate Ahmadinejad. They also hate him because he is reviving the original revolutionary discourse of Khomeinism without any “ taqiyah” (dissimulation).
The concepts and ideas that Rafsanjani and Khatami treated as mere metaphors are being redefined as literal truths under Ahmadinejad.

One key concept is that of the Hidden Imam, the awaited Mahdi of the Twelver Shi’ites. To Rafsanjani and Khatami this is no more than an escathalogical idea with little immediate relevance to the actual life of society. Ahmadinejad, however, has restored the concept of the Hidden Imam as the central truth of Iran’s political, cultural, economic and social life. He has written and signed a pact with the Hidden Imam and has asked all officials to do so, a move that, taken to its logical conclusion, dispenses with the need for any mullahs including the“ Supreme Guide”. Thus the government of the Islamic Republic becomes answerable to the Hidden Imam and not to the “ Supreme Guide” or the Iranian electorate.

This reinterpretation of Twelver Shi’ism excludes not only any form of rule by the mullahs but also any form of electoral democracy. In this way Ahmadinejad hopes to outflank the two principal political forces that have been fighting for power in Iran since the middle of the 19 th century. His message is: neither mullahrchy, nor democracy.

I have already touched on the 12th Imam belief that seems to permeate Ahmadinejad politics, but it sounded as a trick to appeal to the poor and ignorant masses; apparently it goes much deeper than this. Haven't we had enough of mad visionaries haranguing the crowds from balconies?

Read it all.

Iran, Ahmadinejad