IRAN IS NOT FANATICAL IT CAN HANDLE THE NUKE. Avishai, Bernard, and Reza Aslan. "An Israeli Strike on Iran, a Plan That Just Doesn't Fly" Washingtonpost.com - Nation, World, Technology and Washington Area News and Headlines. 10 Aug. 2008. Web. 25 Aug. 2010. . The president of Iran is not the regime. Ahmadinejad has almost no control over Iran's nuclear program that power rests in the hands of the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Khamenei alone commands Iran's military and dictates its foreign policy. Through intermediaries such as Vice President Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei, Khamenei has adopted a much softer tone than Ahmadinejad on nuclear negotiations with the West. As Rahim-Mashaei recently put it, according to Iranian newsagencies, "Iran wants no war with any country, and today Iran is a friend of the United States and even Israel"
