(4 of 4)
During a two-hour interview with TIME, conducted in a Shah-era palace thick with carpets and chandeliers, a senior presidential adviser frankly acknowledged Khatami's limitations. "We have not completely set up the society that we intend," said Mohammed Ali Abtahi, Khatami's chief of staff. "But we have started down this path. We have an arduous but not impossible task." Abtahi asserted that liberalization is irreversible, adding that the only question was whether it will be Khatami or a successor who completes it.
Given that two-thirds of Iranians are under age 25 and demanding an Iran at peace with itself and the world, he may turn out to be correct. Consider a small moment that occurred during last week's euphoria. At one point, a fundamentalist grabbed an American flag that was being waved by revelers and knelt down with a cigarette lighter to set it ablaze. Suddenly a boy ran past, snatched it away and disappeared into the crowd. A young Iranian had rescued the Stars and Stripes.