THE TANGLED US-IRAN KNOT, Part 3: Economy, ties with West key to polls

By Gareth Porter

PART 1: Change or deja vu? Obama divides Iran

PART 2: Iran urges Obama to start talks - now

TEHRAN - The main issue in Iran's June 2009 presidential election is certain to be the country's economic woes, but both candidates will be linking the economy to the issue of relations between Iran and the West, according to Iranian politicians and political analysts.

Based on the bitter internal Iranian politics of the past three years, both President Mahmud Ahmadinejad and whomever is chosen as his opponent are expected to try to pin responsibility for Western financial sanctions on each other. The challenger - expected to emerge from the more moderate camp - will charge that Ahmadinejad has exposed Iran to economic turmoil by mismanaging Iranian relations with Europe, while Ahmadinejad will accuse his foe of conspiring with the West to step up economic sanctions against Iran.