Tag Archives: Velayate Faghi

Video: Ahmadinejad right-hand man, Rahim Mashaei, confronted by pro-regime crowd

Please note: Iran News Now is not affiliated in any way with the labeled source of this video, Mashregh News. Nor do we know who they are or represent. We are posting this video because it shows Ahmadinejad’s right-hand man, Rahim Mashaei, being confronted by a pro-regime crowd during the regime’s 22 Bahman rally in [...]

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RFE/RL – Persian Letters: Khamenei, Ahmadinejad: It’s Complicated

Khamenei: “…when the Supreme Leader says something, the president accepts it and acts accordingly”

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Iran’s Turbulence Beneath

As the main stream media slip back into their pre-2009-Iran-presidential-election coma of blissful ignorance, the story is no longer about the courageous Iranian protesters facing their government and revealing to the world how their government torments and terrorizes them. The now almost decade long story about the threat of the Iranian nuclear program has started [...]

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WSJ: Iran and Hezbollah’s Spiritual Leader

During the ’90s, Fadlallah had a falling out with Hezbollah and Iran. The sticking point was the concept of Velyat-e Faqih, or guardianship of the jurist, which held that the supreme religious and political authority for Hezbollah was Iran’s Supreme Leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Pride played an issue for Fadlallah, who was a true scholar—a marja al-taqlid, or source of emulation—for millions of Shiites around the world. Khamenei was a mid-level cleric whose stature rested on his ability to maneuver among allies and adversaries in Tehran.

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Enduring America: Iran Special: The Escalating Crisis Within

Enduring America | July 3, 2010 By Mr. Verde Weeks into the Parliament v. President v. Rafsanjani crisis over control of Islamic Azad University, there is no resolution. There have been efforts to play down the immediate conflict, for example, with the denial of Yasr Rafsanjani, the son of Hashemi Rafsanjani, that the university’s office [...]

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Tehran Bureau: Who’s in Charge?

Struggle for power builds between clerics, Revolutionary Guards. An important question that those who follow Iran’s political developments keep asking is, Who is the ultimate power in Iran, Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei and the clerics around him, or the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps?

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Enduring America: Iran Document: Karroubi Takes on the Supreme Leader (20 June)

Enduring America | June 20, 2010 by Scott Lucas Our thanks to an EA reader for translation of extracts of Mehdi Karroubi’s latest statement, published in Saham News: The extent of the [jurisdiction and power of the] jurisprudential leadership (Velayat-e-faqih) has expanded so much that I doubt in some cases, such great power was even [...]

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The Good Ayatollah

(Foreign Policy) | March 26, 2010 Why my former cellmate’s legacy will live on. BY ABBAS MILANI If 2010 turns out to be the beginning of the end of the Islamic Republic of Iran, it may well be because of the death of one of the regime’s founders, a man I met three decades ago [...]

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Rafsanjani’s Long-term Strategy: Empowering Himself Through Helping the Greens

(The Newest Deal) | March 12, 2010 Masoud Shafaee As the Persian Nowruz New Year fast approaches and Iran’s post-election crisis enters its ninth month, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani remains as mercurial a figure as ever in Iranian politics. True to his nickname of Kooseh, or “The Shark,” Rafsanjani has been paying lip-service to Supreme Leader [...]

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The Destination was to Begin the Journey

(The Pedestrian Blog) | March 10, 2010 The Pedestrian is an excellent blog providing insightful pieces on Iranian culture, politics and life.   Highly recommended by Iran News Now. Emad Bahavar [1979] is a political activist, writer and the head of “Supporters of Khatami and Mousavi” in the 2009 presidential campaign. He was arrested shortly after [...]

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Newsweek: Khamenei will be Iran’s last Supreme Leader

(Newsweek) Future Perfect The clerical establishment has become so sick of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that they will not replace him when he dies. By Geneive Abdo | Newsweek Web Exclusive Iranian reformists and liberals worldwide can be forgiven for thinking that the election and crackdown last summer strengthened the hardliners. In the short [...]

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The dust of dissent can still choke this regime

On the surface, “order” has been enforced. But only on the surface. Inside Iran, public anger still burns, flaring up wherever opportunity presents. At the core of the Islamic regime, a struggle has been unleashed that — by stepping off his pedestal into the thick of the fray — the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, has lost his once- undisputed power to bring under control. Far from subsiding, dissent is shaking the regime to its roots.

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Feature: Instagrams from Iran (picture compilation)

A few pictures from Iran, taken by ordinary people and posted to Instagram

Iran Feature: Former Detainee Sarah Shourd “The Plight of Iranians and 3 Decades of US Foreign Policy”

The incredible thing for me was that so many Iranians worldwide took the time to care about us despite the thousands of other political prisoners they have to worry about. “I’m an Iranian boy ashamed for what our government did to three American hikers,” another message on Facebook says. “I want you to know Iranian people are with you and against their own government. Iran’s regime is not chosen by Iranian people. They kill and torture us and we are all in a very big prison named Iran.”

Iran Feature: The Supreme Leader Is Worried — Three Developments You Probably Don’t Know

Our partner, EAWorldView, has published a ground-breaking piece on Iran’s Supreme Leader. This is a must-read.

Live-blog: Russia, what’s next?

Live-blog: Egypt Elections, Day 1

A historic day: The first post-Mubarak elections in Egypt

Journalist Mona Eltahawy’s harrowing ordeal – beating, sexual assault and arrest in Egypt – in her own words and tweets

“The past 12 hrs were painful and surreal but I know I got off much much easier than so many other Egyptians.”