Source:
https://scmp.com/article/683893/turmoil-offers-obama-chance-move-iran

Turmoil offers Obama a chance to move on Iran

The hijacking of the Iranian election by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hard on the heels of US President Barack Obama's Cairo speech to the world's Muslims is a disappointment to those looking for change in the Islamic Republic.

But it is also a reminder of the dangers of confusing religious belief with political affiliation. The reality is that 30 years after the revolution against the shah, from which religious hierarchy emerged victorious, the idealism of those days is gone as factions within the elite are at each others' throats. Heroes of the bitter 10-year struggle against a western-armed Iraq were the losers from the Ayatollah Khamenei-directed coup - Mir Hossein Mousavi, who was prime minister during those years, and Mohsen Rezaee, the then-commander of the Revolutionary Guard, which bore the brunt of the fighting. What is happening in Iran now has parallels with Mao Zedong's moves against former comrades.