I reported on the Iran elections and all I got was a lousy 13 years in prisonNewsweek journalist Maziar Bahari was thrown into an Iranian prison for 118 days and then sentenced in absentia to 13 years imprisonment and 74 lashes. What did he do to receive such a punishment?
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
Iran on the brink of civil war
It’s not a revolution that seems inevitable for Iran, but rather civil war and social breakdown as the government and opposition divide the nation along religious and political lines. Abbas Barzegar reports from Iran.
The second Iranian revolution?
Iran is moving from election protests into a full scale civil disobedience campaign, and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameni to blame, says Meir Javedanfar. Can Khameni save his regime or is its demise inevitable?
Supreme Leader’s son has big ambitions
Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Iran’s supreme leader, wields considerable power and is a key figure in orchestrating the crackdown against anti-government protesters, analysts say.
Inside a rigged election
Election irregularities are a matter of degree. There is no such thing as a perfectly-run election. But in Iran, there were a lot of irregularities.
Iran’s Supreme Leader: from reformer to provocateur
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khameni has shown himself to be moderate and flexible. So his provocative backing of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is out of character. Meir Javedanfar asks why.
Will Khamenei throw Ahmadinejad under the bus?
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei may have to dump the unpopular Ahmadinejad in order to save himself.
A big step backwards in the Middle East
A week after Lebanon’s elections were won by the moderate, pro-western forces, Iran has gone the other way, writes Charles Richardson.
The US must strike up a dialogue with Khamenei
Re-elected Ahmadinejad is just “one among equals” in Iran, says Zvi Bar’el. If the US wants to chat policy, it will need to also build a relationship with the Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, who once against demonstrated his ability to impact the election results.
Iran election: status quo the likely winner
Even if Iran sees political change in its election, the country will still be beholden to the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and much will remain the same.
