Iranian natives in Virginia watch warily

Escalating protests in Iran amid accusations of voter fraud in last week's presidential election are reverberating half a world away in central Virginia.

Several natives of Iran now living in Virginia are keeping a close eye on the aftermath of Friday's disputed election, in which incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner in a landslide.

Ruhi Ramazani, an emeritus political-science professor at the University of Virginia who immigrated from Iran more than 50 years ago, said the election was unprecedented in terms of turnout. This is the 10th election since the revolution in 1979, he said.

But Ramazani was surprised by the results, raising his own suspicion about the voting process. Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, since has ordered the Guardian Council to investigate accusations of voter fraud.

"I'm personally not sure of the outcome of that investigation that the supreme leader wants the Guardian Council to do," said Ramazani, who has been dubbed the dean of Iranian foreign-policy studies in the United States. "It is highly unlikely, in my view, that this presidency will be overturned."

Supporters of presidential challenger and pro-reform candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi have waged protests in the Middle Eastern country during the past three days. Mousavi lost the election by a nearly 2-to-1 ratio: 62.6 percent of the vote for Ahmadinejad and 33.75 for Mousavi.

"They ask to just have some freedom. They want free speech; they want to have freedom to walk down the street with their fiancée or wife," said Sobhan Mirshahi of Richmond.

Mirshahi and his cousin Iraj, of Glen Allen, have friends and family living in Iran that are expressing optimism and fear as change and reform within the government remains a possibility.

But that optimism is tempered, Iraj Mirshahi said.

"At the same time, they are concerned because this kind of activity has been dealt with pretty roughly in the past by the Islamic Republic," said Iraj Mirshahi, a doctor of internal medicine in Henrico County.

"They're excited that this could be a good beginning for some reform and changes; at the same time, they are very cautious."

Ramazani said regardless of who ultimately ends up as president, a bigger fight is on the horizon with the United States regarding Iran's nuclear capability. He said Iran will insist it has the right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes under nonproliferation treaties.

"Iran is now capable of achieving virtual nuclear-power status. And that, unfortunately, is partly our fault," said Ramazani, who has been a professor at U.Va. for 57 years. "If we set our goals to rob Iran of all its already achieved nuclear energy, then we are starting with a non-start in the sense that, frankly, now it's too late to undo the 7,200 centrifuges that they have."

Sobhan Mirshahi said he doesn't want to see a nuclear-weapons program in Iran because of the unstable government. But those still living in Iran may maintain a different view.

"Some young people don't like the government, but they think it's their right to have that," he said. "That makes the government stronger."

Contact Jeremy Slayton at (804) 649-6861 or .

The Associated Press contributed to this report.