It took a national election process gone bad to reveal the many dimensions of Iran’s political strata. Given that there are personae in conservative, centrist, and liberal categories make the country’s political scene more combustible than dynamic. Because Iran is a secretive regime, not even all the facilities of Twitter can ever discern and fathom the real picture in Iran’s labyrinthine political vista that spans from left to right.

The conservatives are composed of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Basij militias, and Mohsen Rezaei. The reelected president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is both a right-wing populist and a perceivably simple man. He insists on veils for women, the propagation of his offensive/defensive nuclear program, welfare for the poor, and a more-than-noticeable foreign policy that has seen him as a subject of walk-outs in international summits. He attacks the corruption and ineffectiveness of Iran’s clerical elite. The Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei allied with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to promote Ahmadinejad’s right-wing populism, clearly endorsing him for president. Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, chairman of the body of clerics and lawyers known as Guardian Council or theocratic Supreme Court, is an Ahmadinejad loyalist and enemy of Israel and the United States.

The centrists are composed of the Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, and practically most of the clamorous ayatollahs such as Lotfollah Safi Golpaygani, Mohammad Mousavi Khoiniha, and Abdolkarim Mousavi Ardabili. Rafsanjani has been president, speaker of the Parliament, chairman of the Expediency Council, and the present chairman of the Assembly of Experts, a powerful group of Islamic scholars. He is Khamenei’s rival, being a major clerical leader who is poised to overthrow Khamenei. He is also Iran’s richest billionaire.

Mir Hossein Mousavi, former President Mohammed Khatami, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, and Mehdi Karroubi belong to the liberals. Mir Hossein Mousavi was a confidant and protégé of Ruhollah Khomeini. He wants to break up the morality police and expand civil rights. Former President Mohammed Khatami has managed to give presence and credence to the reformist movement in the Iranian political scenario. He is a hugely popular man, capturing 70 percent of total votes in the 1997 presidential elections. Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri is the avowed intellectual godfather of the reformist movement. He also disclosed and condemned former Supreme Leader Khomeini’s human rights abuse record. Mehdi Karroubi, former speaker of Parliament and two-time presidential candidate, is a staunch critic of the Guardian Council.

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Via salon.com