Kazem Alamdari

LOS ANGELES—In the past thirty years, the power structure of the Islamic Republic of Iran has moved from populism to clientelism, and now to militarism. The triangle of power that includes Supreme Leader Khamenei, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is much more fragile as opposed to the previous power structures. Why? more»

Keyhan Kasravi

BERLIN—A series of events in recent weeks have made many political commentators conclude that Iran’s pro-democracy movement is becoming radicalized. The death of Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri was the first event in this series. Ayatollah Montazeri was known as the spiritual leader of the Green Movement. He was a prominent figure during the early years of the revolution but was later sidelined because of his protests over the mass executions of political dissidents in Iran in the 1980s. In the 1990s, he became a serious critic of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader. more»

Rasool Nafisi

Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri’s death at the age of 87 at his home in Qum coincided with the second day of the Islamic month of Moharram, when the Shiites’ passion for the martyrdom of Imam Hussein rises. IRNA, the official news agency of Iran, reported his death without even using his title (ayatollah), but the title was used later in an obituary by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. In his short message, he mentioned the high religious status of his former rival, and his struggles for the Islamic republic, but Khamenei more»

Kevan Harris

Iran is not going to the 2010 World Cup, but there is another football being kicked around in the domestic Iranian media: the extent of poverty in Iran. more»

Sadegh Zibakalam, who is a political science professor at Tehran University and a respected public intellectual, has been outspoken about the Iranian government’s reluctance to embrace overtures from President Barack Obama. Below is an interview insideIRAN.org conducted with him from his home in Tehran. more»