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UNITED NATIONS - Nearly two years after President Obama took office, the broad outlines of his Iran policy are clear: accumulate leverage, keep your options open, and prepare for the worst.

The strategy was illustrated Friday when the president took to the airwaves of Iran, granting a lengthy interview to the BBC Persian service in which he balanced sometimes dissonant themes: praise for the Iranian people; a willingness to seek a diplomatic solution to the impasse over the government's nuclear ambitions; condemnation of the Iranian president; and rhetorical support for the opposition movement that seeks to topple the leadership with whom Obama needs to make a deal.