Iranian Factions Squabble over War Aims as Supreme Leader Maintains Low Profile
Hardliners and pragmatic moderates are split over whether to prolong the conflict or seek sanctions relief as the new supreme leader stays largely unseen.
- On Monday, August 10, President Masoud Pezeshkian told state media he met Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei for "seven or eight hours," contradicting earlier claims that accessing the leader was "very difficult."
- Since March, Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei's public absence has intensified factional disputes, creating a vacuum in the role his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, held for 40 years as state arbiter.
- Ultra-Conservative cleric Mohammad Bagher Kharazi challenged President Pezeshkian in July, calling him "trash" and threatening to "besiege all the ministries" in Tehran with 250,000 supporters.
- Authorities summoned Kharazi to court after his videos were deleted on Tuesday, August 11, while the IRGC announced a pivot to a more "offensive" military doctrine focused abroad.
- Divisions persist between hardliners seeking to escalate conflict and moderates like Pezeshkian prioritizing sanctions relief, a split the University of South Florida's Mahmoudian described as defining the Islamic Republic's foreign policy.
12 Articles
12 Articles
Donald Trump Has a New Iran Problem: It Might Not Be Clear Who Is in Charge in Tehran
With the United States and Iran continuing their standoff over the Strait of Hormuz, there are new reports of disagreements within the upper reaches of the Iranian regime, and questions about who is really in charge in Tehran. According to Bloomberg News, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said on TV this week that he found it “very difficult” to reach the country’s Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei. The president later said the two had recently …
By appointing six veterans of the military and security apparatus, Mojtaba Khamenei consolidates the hold of the Revolutionary Guards over the army, external strategy and internal control. The president seems relegated to a role of managerSix decrees, still no appearance. Monday, the supreme guide Mojtaba Khamenei finally gave an official status to the men who were already running part of the Iranian war apparatus. At first sight, it is a matter…
Iran's new supreme leader prepares military for prolonged confrontation with US and Israel
Mojtaba Khamenei has recently made a series of appointments that have strengthened his authority at the top of Iran's state apparatus, after remaining out of the public eye since taking power in early March.
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