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The US government Wednesday declined to speculate on the outcome of Iran's presidential election, apparently seeking to avoid compromising chances for President Barack Obama's engagement strategy.
Asked whether any of the main contenders in Friday's polls would be conducive to Obama's offer of dialogue, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said: "I am not going to get into the candidates."
But he added that Washington was closely watching the race, in which firebrand president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is seeking a second term, under challenge from his main rival, moderate ex-prime minister Mir Hossein Mousavi.
Gibbs drew a parallel to Lebanon's parliamentary elections on Sunday which saw a pro-Western coalition headed by Saad Hariri confound expectations and outpace the Hezbollah movement and its Shiite and Christian allies.
"The president ... believes that free and fair elections and the robust task of democracy and picking a government for yourself is tremendously important," Gibbs said.
"The president was heartened by the increase in activity and turnout relating to the elections in Lebanon, and we'll certainly wait and see what happens this coming week," Gibbs said.
At the State Department, spokesman Ian Kelly said someone in his position had to be "very careful not to comment too much about" an electoral process, especially just days before the vote.
"I'll just say that we're following the very lively debate that we're seeing going on inside Iran. And we wish them success in their elections," Kelly told reporters when asked who the administration wanted to win.
"But beyond that, we're not going to express any preferences. What happens on Friday, whatever the results are, that's for the Iranian people to decide," he said.
