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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Geneive Abdo
This article was first published in Foreign Policy Magazine.
A long-brewing power struggle recently burst into public view over Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s decision last month to dismiss Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi. The ensuing power struggle between Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has left the Iranian president deeply weakened and revealed many useful lessons about the closed and convoluted political workings of the Islamic Republic. more»
Sevda Zenjanli
While the Iranian authorities have effectively quashed all overt political organization for women’s rights, today women are the most dynamic group in Iranian opposition politics.
The feminist critique of the Green Movement is mainly focused on Moussavi’s wife, Zahra Rahnavard, whose name is often mentioned by the international and pro-Moussavi media as representative of Iranian women’s rights movement. more»
Geneive Abdo and Arash Aramesh
It is nearly impossible to determine the degree of stability within the opaque world of Iranian politics, but a number of incidents have come to light recently that reveal deepening fissures within the regime.
On display is an increasingly bitter fight, verging on an irrevocable break, between conservative supporters of the present system of clerical government, as epitomized by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and the hardliners backing the non-clerical president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. more»
Ashkan Parsa
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is under an unprecedented wave of attacks. Ironically, his fiercest critics are his once die-hard supporters who backed him during the controversial 2009 presidential election. The new fight that has erupted among hardliners and conservatives alike is not about the poor state of the economy, nor is it about Iran’s international isolation. Rather, it is about who can take a bigger slice of the pie of power in Iran among the Islamic Republic’s greatest loyalists. more»
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