Visible cracks in the Iranian regime

The Islamic Republic of Iran is stumbling into another crisis. This time the crisis is of its own making one that goes to the very heart of the system.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is criticised by those close to the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei for not following the "correct" path and not adhering to the instructions of the Leader. This has led to a petition in the conservative-controlled parliament for the impeachment of the president. The petition was in response to President Ahmadinejad's self-isolation from the cabinet for a week when the Supreme Leader over-ruled his decision to sack the Intelligence Minster. Impeachment is unlikely to be a serious threat to Ahmadinejad, but this power play is a very significant development in Iran. It offers observers a rare insight into a factional tug of war that normally takes place behind the scene.

The fact that Iran is facing internal strife is not new. In 2009 mass rallies challenged the presidential election results which returned Ahmadinejad to office. The ruling clique showed no mercy to protestors, mobilising the paramilitary wing of the Revolutionary Guards to beat them out of public spaces. After a few weeks of violence the streets were cleared. But the 2009 uprising, dubbed the Green Movement because of the use of green arm and head-bands by the protestors, highlighted a major break between the regime and large sections of the population. This schism was mirrored in the top echelons of power polarising the regime into two extreme ends. At the reformist end were the former president Mohammad Khatami and the 2009 presidential candidate Mir Hussein Mousavi himself a former prime minister. And at the conservative end were the incumbent President and the Supreme Leader.

What is new in the latest episode is that cracks are opening up within the ruling clique. Some supporters of the Supreme Leader have accused the Ahmadinejad camp of being anti-clerical. There may be some truth in that claim but Ahmadinejad and his supporters are fully aware that their hold on power has only been made possible by the endorsement of the Supreme Leader. This point was made bluntly by a leading cleric. Ayatollah Yazdi declared last week: "the president's legitimacy is based on the support of the Supreme leader and not the popular vote".

It is remarkable that the clerics feel it necessary to remind their conservative president of the role of the Supreme Leader. The position of the Supreme Leader has lost its aura of being untouchable in the wake of the 2009 protests when Ali Khamenei stepped into the fray to endorse Ahmadinejad. By openly taking sides, Khamenei has managed to erode the illusion that his office is above party politics. This has given greater impetus to those outside the political establishment who question the future of the system of velayat-e faqih, or the supremacy of the jurisprudent.

As a result, it is not simply the incumbent Supreme Leader whose authority is being challenged, but the office of the Supreme Leader and the principle of the velayat-e faqih which has to-date granted ultimate power to the top cleric. It is not surprising that the growing schism in the Iranian leadership is taking place against the background of an Arab Spring. The popular surge for political accountability in the Arab world has made the Iran regime nervous about its own fate.

Shahram Akbarzadeh is Professor of Asian Politics (Middle East & Central Asia) at the University of Melbourne.

ABC NEWS