Ever since the Islamic Republic of Iran was found in the aftermath of the 1979 Revolution, there has always been a fierce power struggle between the hardliners and conservatives, on the one hand, and various pragmatist, reformist, and Islamic leftist factions that oppose them, on the other hand. In the 1980s the struggle was between right-wing Islamists and such Islamic leftists as former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi and his supporters. From mid1990s to 2005, a fierce power struggle raged between the hardliners and the Reformists. After the fraudulent presidential election of 2009, the struggle was transformed to one between the democratic Green Movement and the hardliners. And since President Hassan Rouhani was elected in June 2013, a coalition of reformists and moderate conservatives, led by Rouhani and former Presidents Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami, has taken on the hardliners.

According to the Constitution of the Islamic Republic, the Supreme Leader is the ultimate authority of the State and is supposed to be an impartial arbiter between its various organs. That was more or less the case as long as Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was the Supreme Leader. Although the leftist clerics, most of whom his former students, were close to him, and even though he was a firm supporter of Mousavi in the 1980s, he always remained about the fray, and created a balance between the two main factions. His charismatic personality, unquestionable authority, and religious credentials – he was a grand ayatollah for decades - enabled him to act as the ultimate arbiter that was more or less impartial.

Thus, it became clear to the entire nation that not only does Khamenei pull all the strings from behind the scene, but that he is also the leader of only one political faction and a minority at that, not the Supreme Leader and the father figure that he pretended to be. Khamenei became truly despised. Even Ahmadinejad recognized the depth of unpopularity of Khamenei, and decided to go his own way. His reckless foreign policy – if it can be called as such – coupled with his rhetoric against Israel, and his hardline position against making any concessions regrading Iran’s nuclear program provided the perfect excuse for the United States and its allies to impose on Iran the most crippling economic sanctions in history. The sanctions, coupled with deep and vast corruption and Ahmadinejad’s incompetence almost broke Iran’s economic back. But, after imposing him on the nation, Khamenei had no way out. He had to tolerate Ahmadinejad until he finished his second term. That only contributed to further erosion of Khamenei’s stature.

The question is, which side is the West on, Iran’s hardliners and Khamenei, or the reformists and moderates?

Originally posted on National Interest