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KARACHI - The controversial re-election at the weekend of hardline President Mahmud Ahmadinejad to a second four-year term raises a cloud over United States President Barack Obama's hopes of engaging Iran in serious negotiations.

For a recently activated nexus, though, Ahmadinejad's unexpected thumping victory and the intense reaction it has aroused among supporters of the main losing candidate, reformist Mir Hossein Mousavi, provide a golden opportunity for renewed efforts to destabilize Iran.