Monday
Oct122009
Iran: So Who Controls the Islamic Republic?
Monday, October 12, 2009 at 9:07
The Latest from Iran (11 October): “Media Operations”
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UPDATE 12 October 0845 GMT: EA's Mr Smith offers his reading of the Foreign Affairs analysis:
"I do not see what this adds to what we knew already. Besides making the silly mistake of identifying Mesbah Yazdi with Mohammad Yazdi, and stating that the former was head of Iran's judiciary (in reality his real influence and authority are, until proven otherwise, rather limited to "spiritual guidance" of Ahmadinejad), the rest are allegations that have been fed to him after having floated on the Web for months. The Taeb-Jalili-Khamenei trio was floated by Roger Cohen [of The New York Times] in one of his dispatches from Tehran.
The only tidbit that would be interesting, if verified, is the purge of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps and the removal of pro-Mousavi Guardsmen before the elections. That would make sense, and it would be interesting to have real statistics on that.
--
Earlier this week Foreign Affairs published an article by Jerry Guo on "the rise of a new power elite" of "the Revolutionary Guard and its allies" in Iran. The article raised points which have been discussed by Enduring America readers for several weeks, considering politics, the military situation, and the battle for control of key sections of Iran's economy. In addition to Guo's attention to the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps, notice his inclusion of Saeed Jalili, the secretary of Iran's National Security Council, and the Supreme Leader's son, Mojtaba Khamenei, amongst the "coalition of power".
Letter from Tehran: Iran's New Hard-Liners
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.)
The real struggle, however, is the conflict among the hard-liners themselves, many of whom operate behind the headlines in unseen corners of the state machinery. Although Iran's opposition movement has witnessed an unprecedented surge in public support, the election and its aftermath mark a radicalization of the system not seen since the early days of the Islamic revolution.
In the reformist era of Khatami, and to some extent during Ahmadinejad's first term, the country's conservative theocrats and technocrats -- such as Ali Larijani, the speaker of the parliament, and Gholam-Hussein Mohseni-Ejei, the ousted intelligence minister who criticized the state's use of forced confessions -- held much of the power over the executive and legislative branches. Although they were entrenched status quo forces, these pragmatists believed in the dual nature of the Islamic Republic's statehood -- a country with religious and political legitimacy.
But now such figures are losing their influence to a new breed of second-generation revolutionaries from Iran's security apparatus known as "the New Right." They are joined in the emerging power structure by ultraconservative clerics and organizations such as the Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran. These neo-fundamentalists call for the "re-Islamization" of the theocracy, but their true agenda is to block further reform to the political system in terms of reconciling with both domestic opponents and the West.
This coalition includes Hassan Taeb, the commander of the Basij, the paramilitary branch of the IRGC; Saeed Jalili, the secretary of Iran's National Security Council and the country's chief nuclear negotiator; and Mojtaba Khamenei, the supreme leader's second son, a man so feared that his name is not often uttered in public.
Hard-line figures such as the younger Khamenei and the IRGC leadership are granted religious legitimacy through the support of the most radical mullahs in the theocratic establishment: Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, the head of the Guardian Council, the committee that certified the election tallies, and Ayatollah Mohammad Mesbah Yazdi, a former head of the judiciary and Ahmadinejad's spiritual adviser. Yazdi is affiliated with an underground messianic sect called the Hojjatieh Society, which hopes to quicken the coming of the apocalypse. Democratic reforms, the Majlis (parliament), and elections are mere annoyances under this radical Islamic worldview.
It is not surprising, then, that Yazdi issued a fatwa shortly before June 12 that gave authorities tacit approval to fudge the vote. Indeed, the clerics seem to have gotten the intended result: after the election, a number of employees at Iran's Interior Ministry released an open letter stating that "the election supervisors, who had become happy and energetic for having obtained the religious fatwa to use any trick for changing the votes, began immediately to develop plans for it."
Yazdi's influence on Ahmadinejad became pronounced in the early days of the president's first term, when Ahmadinejad declared that the return of the apocalyptic 12th imam would come within two years. Now, his second term will likely be marked by even more radical behavior: in a meeting with Yazdi in June to discuss his domestic agenda, Ahmadinejad promised to Islamize the country's educational and cultural systems, declaring that Iranians had not yet witnessed "true Islam." Then, in August, amid calls to purge reformist professors, a presidential panel began investigating university humanities curricula deemed to be "un-Islamic." Several progressive students told me that they have been barred from returning to campus this semester, including a top law student at Tehran University. "I was going to continue the protests with my law degree in a more effective manner," he said. "But now I am just a simple pedestrian."
But ideology remains secondary in the struggle to maintain and consolidate control within the fractured regime. It is becoming increasingly clear that Ahmadinejad and his associated faction of neo-fundamentalists no longer aim to take on the mantle of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's revolutionary ideals. As Khamenei's representative to the IRGC put it, "Some people are sticking to Imam Khomeini's ideas ... [but] the situation has changed." Accordingly, religion and revolutionary ideology have become convenient means to an end, but not the end themselves. Purges of un-Islamic faculty and students are meant to target the organizers of mass protests; the arrests and subsequent trials of political opponents, meanwhile, act to shield the financial interests of the IRGC and its hard-line partners.
Read rest of article...
Receive our latest updates by email or RSS SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FEED
Buy Us A Cup of Coffee? Help Enduring America Expand Its Coverage and Analysis
UPDATE 12 October 0845 GMT: EA's Mr Smith offers his reading of the Foreign Affairs analysis:
"I do not see what this adds to what we knew already. Besides making the silly mistake of identifying Mesbah Yazdi with Mohammad Yazdi, and stating that the former was head of Iran's judiciary (in reality his real influence and authority are, until proven otherwise, rather limited to "spiritual guidance" of Ahmadinejad), the rest are allegations that have been fed to him after having floated on the Web for months. The Taeb-Jalili-Khamenei trio was floated by Roger Cohen [of The New York Times] in one of his dispatches from Tehran.
The only tidbit that would be interesting, if verified, is the purge of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps and the removal of pro-Mousavi Guardsmen before the elections. That would make sense, and it would be interesting to have real statistics on that.
--
Earlier this week Foreign Affairs published an article by Jerry Guo on "the rise of a new power elite" of "the Revolutionary Guard and its allies" in Iran. The article raised points which have been discussed by Enduring America readers for several weeks, considering politics, the military situation, and the battle for control of key sections of Iran's economy. In addition to Guo's attention to the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps, notice his inclusion of Saeed Jalili, the secretary of Iran's National Security Council, and the Supreme Leader's son, Mojtaba Khamenei, amongst the "coalition of power".
Letter from Tehran: Iran's New Hard-Liners
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.)
The real struggle, however, is the conflict among the hard-liners themselves, many of whom operate behind the headlines in unseen corners of the state machinery. Although Iran's opposition movement has witnessed an unprecedented surge in public support, the election and its aftermath mark a radicalization of the system not seen since the early days of the Islamic revolution.
In the reformist era of Khatami, and to some extent during Ahmadinejad's first term, the country's conservative theocrats and technocrats -- such as Ali Larijani, the speaker of the parliament, and Gholam-Hussein Mohseni-Ejei, the ousted intelligence minister who criticized the state's use of forced confessions -- held much of the power over the executive and legislative branches. Although they were entrenched status quo forces, these pragmatists believed in the dual nature of the Islamic Republic's statehood -- a country with religious and political legitimacy.
But now such figures are losing their influence to a new breed of second-generation revolutionaries from Iran's security apparatus known as "the New Right." They are joined in the emerging power structure by ultraconservative clerics and organizations such as the Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran. These neo-fundamentalists call for the "re-Islamization" of the theocracy, but their true agenda is to block further reform to the political system in terms of reconciling with both domestic opponents and the West.
This coalition includes Hassan Taeb, the commander of the Basij, the paramilitary branch of the IRGC; Saeed Jalili, the secretary of Iran's National Security Council and the country's chief nuclear negotiator; and Mojtaba Khamenei, the supreme leader's second son, a man so feared that his name is not often uttered in public.
Hard-line figures such as the younger Khamenei and the IRGC leadership are granted religious legitimacy through the support of the most radical mullahs in the theocratic establishment: Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, the head of the Guardian Council, the committee that certified the election tallies, and Ayatollah Mohammad Mesbah Yazdi, a former head of the judiciary and Ahmadinejad's spiritual adviser. Yazdi is affiliated with an underground messianic sect called the Hojjatieh Society, which hopes to quicken the coming of the apocalypse. Democratic reforms, the Majlis (parliament), and elections are mere annoyances under this radical Islamic worldview.
It is not surprising, then, that Yazdi issued a fatwa shortly before June 12 that gave authorities tacit approval to fudge the vote. Indeed, the clerics seem to have gotten the intended result: after the election, a number of employees at Iran's Interior Ministry released an open letter stating that "the election supervisors, who had become happy and energetic for having obtained the religious fatwa to use any trick for changing the votes, began immediately to develop plans for it."
Yazdi's influence on Ahmadinejad became pronounced in the early days of the president's first term, when Ahmadinejad declared that the return of the apocalyptic 12th imam would come within two years. Now, his second term will likely be marked by even more radical behavior: in a meeting with Yazdi in June to discuss his domestic agenda, Ahmadinejad promised to Islamize the country's educational and cultural systems, declaring that Iranians had not yet witnessed "true Islam." Then, in August, amid calls to purge reformist professors, a presidential panel began investigating university humanities curricula deemed to be "un-Islamic." Several progressive students told me that they have been barred from returning to campus this semester, including a top law student at Tehran University. "I was going to continue the protests with my law degree in a more effective manner," he said. "But now I am just a simple pedestrian."
But ideology remains secondary in the struggle to maintain and consolidate control within the fractured regime. It is becoming increasingly clear that Ahmadinejad and his associated faction of neo-fundamentalists no longer aim to take on the mantle of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's revolutionary ideals. As Khamenei's representative to the IRGC put it, "Some people are sticking to Imam Khomeini's ideas ... [but] the situation has changed." Accordingly, religion and revolutionary ideology have become convenient means to an end, but not the end themselves. Purges of un-Islamic faculty and students are meant to target the organizers of mass protests; the arrests and subsequent trials of political opponents, meanwhile, act to shield the financial interests of the IRGC and its hard-line partners.
Read rest of article...
tagged Ali Larijani, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, Ayatollah Mohammad Mesbah Yazdi, Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, Foreign Affairs, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejeie, Hashemi Rafsanjani, Hassan Taeb, Hojjatieh Society, Iran, Iran Elections 2009, Islamic Revolution Guard Corps, Jerry Guo, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mehdi Karroubi, Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mohammad Khatami, Mojtaba Khamenei, Saeed Jalili in Middle East & Iran
Ali Larijani, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, Ayatollah Mohammad Mesbah Yazdi, Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, Foreign Affairs, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejeie, Hashemi Rafsanjani, Hassan Taeb, Hojjatieh Society, Iran, Iran Elections 2009, Islamic Revolution Guard Corps, Jerry Guo, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mehdi Karroubi, Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mohammad Khatami, Mojtaba Khamenei, Saeed Jalili in Middle East & Iran
Reader Comments (13)
The author's tea leaves were a bit cloudy. He identifies Hassan Taeb as one of the new elite just a few days before Taeb was replaced as the head of the Basij by Brig. Gen. Mohammed Reza Naqdi. To be sure Taeb moved into the intelligence sector of the Pasdaran but now he does not have direct command of troops.
I don't think anyone has mentioned that Naqdi is an Iranian born and raised in NAJAF, IRAQ whose family was expelled by Saddam back in 79-80. His career shows that he was instrumental in setting up and training Shiite Iraqi armed units and also has extensive experience in Lebanon with Hezbollah. I see Naqdi as the future head of the Guards, perhaps when Jafari decides to run for President.
@ samuel
I`ve been reading most of your posts and I`m wondering,
what is that stuff that you smoke.. please let me know. it has to be real good to get your mind all bend like that.. please pass it over here.. Jafari, AN , SL khomeini, all these people will go down in history like a bunch of mass murderes,
but you know samuel, you can kiss the ground SL walks on.. I wouldn`t P*ss on him if he was on fire
@xerxes
Sorry I don't smoke or drink for that matter but thank you for your inquiry. As to your obsession with your own bodily fluids I suggest you seek some proffessional help but its your decision.
Imam Khomeini, mass murderer? You must be confused. All the refomists love Khomeini haven't you heard. Haven't you heard of the "reformist Imam Khomeini Line", haven't you heard of Khomeini's grandson? Why the Imam would have been marching in the streets alongside Mousavi or releasing statements like Montazeri.
Oh wait I forgot Imam Khomeini dismissed Montazeri, insulted him and called him a traitor.
Here is a good picture of the now SL during the war spending time with the troops at the front (and also doing a fine imitation of Fidel Castro) while most other leaders stayed in the comfort of the cities getting fat and lazy. The SL's commitment to the front line troops is well known.
http://english.khamenei.ir//components/com_mhasgallery/img_pictures/originals/20080315_1054988495_24.jpg
Given your tendencies I figure you might want to P*SS on the picture but I would advise you to cover your keyboard in plastic before doing so lest you ruin it.
Some more great pictures, this time of the SL with the Basij troops.
http://arabic.khamenei.ir//index.php?option=com_mhasgallery&func=viewcategory&catid=92&startpage=1&Itemid=0#category
One day in the not too distant future these troops in conjuction with soldiers from Hezbollah, Hamas, Syria and the Palestinian civilian population in Palestine will conquer Qods and put an end to the Zionist Israeli entity.
[edited by moderator]
@samuel, why do you bring up the reformists? did I mention them? they`re the same shit as SL, only different wrapping.
"One day in the not too distant future these troops in conjuction with soldiers from Hezbollah, Hamas, Syria and the Palestinian civilian population in Palestine will conquer Qods and put an end to the Zionist Israeli entity" don`t forget who gots the nukes in the middle-east( please don`t try to make a point out of the hypocracy of US policy against Irans nuceleur program, everyone is aware of that)
keep dreaming; matter of fact is the Shah would have done so much more for the palestinians then khomeini and his qods day circus. He was going out against the jewish lobby, he had plans on using oil as a tool to bring down the Zionist regime. I agree with you on the Israel/Palastine issue. But the fact remains.. your idols SL and IRGC don`t give a rats ass about the Palestinan people, or Islam for that matter.. look at China.. look at Russia, they supress and kill moslems, any words from your Jafari? from AN from SL? no.. off course not.. because that is not in their interest.
as for your pictures of SL with the troops.. I couldn`t give a rats ass about [him]
let me tell you a little story sonnyboy, the Iran-Iraq war could have ended in less than one year, but your daddy, khomeini wouldn`t allow it...
the reason; the revolution wasn`t holding up, so he dragged the war for eight years, keeping the people focused on one common enemy.
ooooh, Samuel you young child.. there is so much you don`t know. keep up the faith..
just don`t cry when SL`s ass is being dragged through the streets of tehran.
Whatever else you want to say about the "Zionist Israeli entity", Israel has the freest press in the middle east. Opposition newspapers aren't shut down and reporters aren't arrested for saying things the government doesn't like. Neither does the government arrest the children and grandchildren of rabbi's who disagree with them. Israel doesn't treat it's Palestinian population very well, but Iran hasn't been treating its own population very well either.
Back to back a defender of the Shah and a defender of the Zionist state. Very nice it won't be long before someone adds a defense of the old South Africa.
It just so happens that "whatever else you want to say about the Zionist entity" includes the fact that state itself is a product of ethnic cleansing on a monumental scale that dwarfs anything done in Bosnia. The very nature of the state is based on stealing other people's land and building settlements as is happening every day in the West Bank.
If it wasn't for the incredible campaign of Hezbollah (trained of course by the Pasdaran) Israel today would be building settlements in South Lebanon. And who would speak out against those settlements in South Lebanon? Certaingly not a Zionist apologist praising them for their "free press". I guess the govt. doesn't have time to arrest children and grandchildren since it is so busy bombing the hell out of them in the Gaza strip. Thank you for clarifying how nice the war criminal state of Israel is.
Oh and when you have some free time read the Goldstone report.
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/specialsession/9/docs/UNFFMGC_Report.pdf
@xerxes
So in your bizarre version of history the Shah who was actually a close ally of the Zionists was going to bring them down? Any sources for this historical scoop?
Re: Israel. The only armed force in the whole history of the Arab-Israeli conflict to force Israel to give up conquered territorry has been Hezbollah and its ally Iran. (I don't count the separate sellout by Egypt to regain the Sinai) You may think that the Iranian revolutionaries don't care about the situation in Palestine. Hezbollah and Hamas think, and know, better.
I do agree with your description of the reformists. I despise the MOK, for example, but I respect those who pick up Kalashnikovs and fight for their cause.
@Samuel,
I'm hardly an apologist for Zionism and I'm already quite familiar with the Goldstone report, but Israel isn't the great evil you make it out to be. Yes, it has done evil, and is doing evil, but so too are the governments of many other countries including your own Iran. The Russians have killed more Chechens and the Chinese more Uighurs then the Israelis have Palestinians. And yet the Iranian government stays silent on those matters while harshly stifling dissent within its own borders. Many governments are capable of extreme disproportionate action when acting in what they feel to be self-defense (Gaza got off light compared to what the Russians did to Grozny.) It is also because of the propaganda of the Iranian regime, which you appear to be gullible enough to believe, and the rejectionist front they've sponsored with their proxy forces that many who had been opposed to the settlements within Israel have thrown up their hands and are now saying "Screw the Palestinians, and screw Iran too." There is no point in negotiating a peace deal with people whose goal is your destruction. Would you make concessions to someone seeking your death? Most people wouldn't, regardless of their nationality.
The extremists on both sides have been incredibly successful in marginalizing the moderates on the other, and the Iranian regime has done all that it possibly can to see that the Palestinian people continue to suffer while pretending to support them in order to maintain its proxy forces which give it influence beyond its borders. The West Bank isn't the same thing as Southern Lebanon in the minds and hearts of Israeli Jews. They're not going to pull out of what they refer to as "Judaea & Samaria" over a few casualties. A peace deal is the only way that will happen, but Pasdaran meddling only weakens the Israeli peace camp & strengthens the hand of the settlers within Israel. Continued bloodshed however suits the interests of the current Iranian regime better than a peace deal would. It's a pity, because nothing would increase the chances of a fair and equitable deal for the Palestinians like an Iran that is just as fully engaged in the peace process as an advocate for the Palestinian people.
[edited by moderator]
@ Peter, @xerxes
Please don’t waste your time with Samuel. He is so brain washed....How sick could he and his comrade thugs be to call Iran's Jack the Ripper Imam? He flashes Khamenei's photo with the troop but he forgets to mention that was the war in which they killed other Muslims. These God’s rejects are master of hypocrisy. He talks about myth of IRG and Pasdaran and dreams about the day they wipe Israel of the earth but has forgotten that the same IRG and Pasdaran were humiliated and had to come back defeated with their tails between their legs.
It is total waste of time to reason with him and his kind because they have no brain. I hope for the day to find them hiding in a hole or catch them when they are escaping wearing chador (their mother’s black cover).
@ Samuel
You and your idols are a sick joke. You are nothing – a big fat zero. You are not worth a minute of my time and I will ignore your rant in the future....
@Megan
Thank you for the kind thoughts. Following your advice I just went to the market and bought a brain. Got a pretty good price too.
This statement of yours is a bit puzzling: "He flashes Khamenei’s photo with the troop but he forgets to mention that was the war in which they killed other Muslims."
For your information the Iran/Iraq war was started by Saddam Hussein and Iraq. For Iran it was a defensive war for its very survival. And for your further information Saddam's govt was a viciously anti-Shiite Sunni regime who killed and opressed the country's Shiite majority. As mentioned in my first post above the current head of the Basij himself was born and raised in Najaf, Iraq but his family was expelled by Saddam along with thousands of other Iranian/Iraqi families.
Pity, you seem more familiar with the history of Jack the Ripper than recent Iranian/Iraqi history.
@Peter
I will refute your many points in a later post but you are right many of us don't want a "peace" treaty with Israel, we want the whole Zionist state dismantled.
A peace treaty where the Palestinian refugees don't get to return? A peace treaty where Israel still has the racist "right of return"? No thanks. This does not mean throwing the jews "into the sea", they can remain in a unitary state just as whites continue to live and prosper in post apartheid South Africa.
@Samuel
You and the Israeli settlers both agree on one thing at least; the land must not be divided. If the Israeli government continues to expand the settlements then the two-state solution which you despise will soon cease to be a possibility. But the Israeli government will never reward violent resistance with the right to vote. Instead the Palestinians will continue to be pushed into smaller and smaller "Bantustans" by the settlers. The only way for the Palestinians to successfully make a case for a unitary state in which they are full citizens is through peaceful, non-violent resistance. As long as guns and bombs are the method of choice they will only continue to suffer as Israel will return the violence tenfold while claiming the right to self-defense. On the other hand, were they to take a page out of Mahatma Ghandi's book and shift to a more peaceful form of resistance, Israel would eventually find itself isolated, even from America were it not to relent.