Letter from Tehran: Iran's New Hard Liners
Foreign Affairs Quarterly / Jerry Guo
11-Oct-2009 (2 comments)

The headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) are in a European-style palace, replete with Greek columns and a grand staircase, in the eastern suburbs of Tehran. From here, the IRGC orchestrated the crackdown that followed Iran's disputed presidential vote in June, beating protestors on the street and torturing those behind bars. More ominously, the IGRC and other extreme hard-liners have sidelined fellow conservatives in the Iranian government, carving out their own power base in a regime that is becoming increasingly insular, reactionary, and violent.

So far, much of the analysis of the emerging Iranian power struggle has focused on the clash between the country's conservatives and reformers, pitting President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his patron, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, against Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, two thwarted presidential candidates, and Mohammad Khatami, a former president. (Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former president and seasoned kingmaker has eased toward the reformists in the election's aftermath.)

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ahmad_

Taajob

by ahmad_ on

bara in mozoo be in mohemi faghat ye nafar comment dadeh.

vali bara masaele pish pa oftadeh 70-80 ta comment dide mishe.

va ma khodemoon kheili ba shoor hesab mikonim.

 


FG

Another Interesting Analysis comes from Foreign Policy

by FG on

The Rise of the Iranian Dictatorship  

Tehran is increasingly relying on its military to control its
citizens. Looking at the new leaders of the Islamic Revolutionary
Guard, that trend seems certain to hasten.

 

//www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/10/07/the_rise_of_the_Iranian_dictatorship

My COMMENT: Having lost all legitimacy in the eyes of most people, the government now relies on the only thing left: naked force.