In recent weeks, news reports from Iran depict the run-up to this Friday's presidential election as a raucous affair replete with street parties in Tehran and shocking debate theatrics. Some commentators note that Iran's urban youth are coalescing behind the candidacy of Mir Hussein Moussavi, a former prime minister who promises to improve Iran's international image and who is deemed the strongest challenger to current president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. For his part, Ahmadinejad draws support from the urban and rural poor who have benefited from generous government subsidies and loans under his watch.

The newly energized campaigns fly in the face of suggestions that Iran's presidential elections don't matter, since the unelected Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will continue to control key military and political power regardless of the victor. This is the view held by many U.S. conservatives, who are opposed to "dialogue" with Iran and who have criticized President Obama for pursuing diplomatic rather than military means in the Middle East.

But there are also suggestions that many Iranians considered life to be better under Mohammad Khatami, the president from 1997 to 2005 who promoted stronger relations with the West. In recent days, Moussavi's supporters have taken to the streets dressed in green and waving portraits of Moussavi with "A New Greeting to the World" written in English underneath. As occurred in Lebanon last week, where pro-Western parties defeated Hezbollah candidates, the Obama administration is quietly hoping for a more moderate political turn in Iran.

Watch the Global Pulse episode on the latest developments in Iran here.