Let’s role play.

You are the president of the United States. You are the sixth president to address the issue of an Islamic Republic that has declared itself an enemy of America and an enemy of America’s allies. The Islamic Republic has openly threatened to wipe Israel off of the map.

This nation is openly and aggressively developing a nuclear weapon capability. Nothing seems to dissuade them from this path. Neither the previous administration’s threats nor your administration’s attempts at diplomatic engagement makes the slightest difference in their headlong weapons development program.

Israel will not allow a second Holocaust under any circumstances. At some point, Israel will be forced to attack the Islamic Republic. This will cause a wider war and will certainly cause the price of oil to skyrocket. In the midst of a world-wide recession, the last thing that is needed is an oil shortage.

Your options seem limited but there is one ray of hope. There is a democracy movement in the Islamic Republic. These aren’t people calling for fair elections. These are people calling for revolution. If they were to succeed, there is a real chance they would ally themselves with the United States and abandon the nuclear weapons program.

You can either support their movement or continue to engage with the leaders of the Islamic regime. The latter option, of course, lends credibility to the regime and undermines and weakens the democracy movement.

What do you do?

Iranian security forces fired on anti-government protesters in the capital Sunday, killing at least four people in the fiercest clashes in months, opposition Web sites and witnesses said.

Amateur video footage purportedly from the center of Tehran showed an enraged crowd carrying away one of the casualties, chanting, “I’ll kill, I’ll kill the one who killed my brother.” In several locations in the center of the capital, demonstrators fought back furiously against security forces, hurling stones at them and setting their motorcycles, cars and vans ablaze, according to video footage and opposition Web sites.

Demonstrations also took place in at least three other cities.

In Tehran, protesters tried to cut off roads with burning barricades that filled the sky with billowing black smoke. One police officer was photographed with blood streaming down his face after he was set upon by the crowd in a blazing street.

The protests began with thousands of opposition supporters chanting “Death to the dictator,” a reference to hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, as they took to the streets in defiance of official warnings of a harsh crackdown on any demonstrations coinciding with a religious observance on Sunday. Iranians were marking Ashoura, commemorating the seventh-century death in battle of one of Shiite Islam’s most beloved saints.

Meanwhile…

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday mocked U.S. President Barack Obama’s “extended hand” offer made earlier this year and said his country’s cooperation on its nuclear program had been spurned.

The U.S. president had been a disappointment to the world, Ahmadinejad said in an interview with Britain’s Channel 4 News, a full transcript of which was later posted on its website.

He once again dismissed a year-end deadline on a U.N.-drafted fuel deal, saying it was “meaningless.” The deal requires Iran to ship most of its low-enriched uranium (LEU) abroad in exchange for fuel for a Tehran research reactor.

And then there is this…

Sen. John Kerry has suggested becoming the first high-level U.S. emissary to make a public visit to Tehran since the 1979 Islamic revolution, a move White House officials say they won’t oppose.
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Many opponents of Tehran’s regime oppose such a visit, fearing it would lend legitimacy to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at a time when his government is under continuing pressure from protests and opposition figures. Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets again this week to voice their opposition to the government following the death of a reformist cleric.
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“The wrong message would be sent to the Iranian people by such a high-level visit: The U.S. loves dictatorial regimes,” said Hossein Askari, a professor at George Washington University and former adviser to Iranian governments.

A trip by Sen. Kerry could provide the Obama administration a last-minute chance to directly convey its views to Iranian leaders before the U.S. moves to increase financial pressure on Tehran in an effort to derail Iran’s nuclear programs.

“Obama! Obama! Are you with us or the regime?”

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