麻豆社

Before July 2009 is out Mahmoud Ahmedinejad will be inaugurated as Iran's president for a second term. Beyond that, the future of the Islamic republic is hard to predict. June's disputed election stirred not just popular discontent, but also division within Iran's elites.

Sir Richard Dalton was British ambassador in Tehran until 2006. Stephen Sackur asks him: with the hardliners digging in, what should western governments do now?