Since the Obama administration's official position is that "a coup is a coup" no matter who gets ousted, I'm assuming that this will be the last straw in The One's quest for engagement:

The top leaders of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard publicly acknowledged they had taken over the nation's security during the post-election unrest and warned late Sunday, in a threat against a reformist wave led by Mir-Hossein Mousavi, that there was no middle ground in the ongoing dispute over the reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari, commander of the elite military branch, said the guard's takeover of the nation's security had led to "a revival of the revolution." "These events put us in a new stage of the revolution and political struggles, and all of us must fully comprehend its dimensions... Because the Revolutionary Guard was assigned the task of controlling the situation, [it] took the initiative to quell a spiraling unrest. This event pushed us into a new phase of the revolution and political struggles and we have to understand all its dimensions."

What will actually happen, of course, is that Obama will wait long enough for the public to stomach engaging these lunatics and then do what he's ideologically committed to doing. It shouldn't take more than two months for the President to announce that he's made the "hard choice" to "air the US's concerns over multiple issues, including political freedoms, without illusions." The only downside is that it won't work and will be universally seen as a legitimization of the Khamenei/Ahmadinejad military dictatorship. Small price to pay for sophistication.

Obama was probably told during the first few days of rioting that the regime would quickly reassert control. That's the kind of analysis you'd expect from the liberal Iran experts who feed the White House their incisive insights. Their near-certain recommendation: "no use antagonizing the regime since we'll have to deal with them in a few months."

When that didn't happen Obama had to mouth some pleasantries about freedom. But - and here's the beautiful thing about having an entire preordained agenda insensitive to changing conditions - he's still protecting the regime:

The United States is opposed to enacting a new set of financial sanctions against Iran that are due to be discussed in the G8 summit next week, diplomatic officials in New York reported Friday. According to officials, sanctions against Iran are expected to top the G8's agenda. Sources are also predicting a pointed debate between the heads of the industrialized nations over an appropriate response to Iranian authorities' suppression of reformist demonstrations in Iran led by Mir Hossein Mousavi and other Iranian opposition leaders.

I'm not sure how this fits into The One's scheme to wield "real sticks" along with the enticing carrot of international legitimacy. I'm also not sure why it comes so soon after Odierno publicly called out Iran for targeting our troops in Iraq. But it can't be the rank appeasement that it looks like. That wouldn't make any sense.

References and previously after the jump...