Domestic Relations

Shayan Ghajar

While the most prominent members of the Green Movement, Mir Hossein Moussavi, Zahra Rahnavard, and Mehdi Karroubi languish in house arrest, calls for a silent protest on June 12 made by a senior Moussavi aide were nevertheless successful in mobilizing demonstrations in Iran’s capital on the second anniversary of the disputed June 2009 Iranian elections. more»

Shayan Ghajar

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gave a much-publicized press conference June 7 seeking to reassert his public presence and voice amidst the clamor of his political enemies’ attacks. The address was Ahmadinejad’s first major public acknowledgment of the political war being waged between himself and loyalists to the Supreme Leader, an indication of the severity of the shock waves rippling through Iran’s elites. more»

Shayan Ghajar

On June 4, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei made a speech commemorating the 22nd anniversary of the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic. Khamenei’s speech appeared to call for an easing of the tensions between president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s camp and that of Khamenei himself: “If we insult our brothers in the name of revolutionary sentiments and justice, we will stray away from [Ayatollah Khomeini’s] path,” Khamenei declared in the speech. more»

Editor’s Note: A political analyst close to Tehran’s mayor, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, tells insideIRAN that Qalibaf is poised to replace Ahmadinejad. The analyst’s identity must be kept confidential for security reasons. He spoke to insideIRAN from Tehran.
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Shayan Ghajar

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad currently faces the strongest opposition of any president of the Islamic Republic in three decades. The attacks on Ahmadinejad are astounding, both in their scope and severity, and unprecedented in their consequences for the Iranian government.
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