Arash Aramesh
Tabnak/Parleman News

After a heated spring, when hard-line members of Iran’s parliament were often locked in confrontation with Ali Larijani, the moderate conservative parliamentary speaker, it appears Larijani has prevailed in the power struggle.

Senior members of the conservative faction in parliament met earlier this week – as they do annually – to choose a leader. Larijani, who serves as both factional leader and parliamentary speaker, was opposed by Hojjatol-Eslam Agha-Tehrani, an MP who supports President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Larijani’s foe.

But despite recent conflicts with the hardliners in the parliament, the conservative faction cast their vote for Larijani. Of the thirty-two members, twenty-seven voted for him.

Larijani, who refused to support Ahmadinejad’s bid for re-election this past summer, was viewed as too moderate by some pro-Ahmadinejad MPs. The more conservative MPs accused Larijani of being too neutral in the face of massive demonstrations that swept Iran this past summer and the factional infighting in the aftermath of the Iranian presidential election.

Larijani’s supporters argued that, as speaker of the parliament, Larijani acted appropriately when he called for a truce between the two fighting factions. Larijani, who has served as the head of Iran’s state-run television and the head of Iran’s Supreme Council on National Security, has close ties to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as do his brothers.