Khamenei's Quandary

Radio Free Europe analyzes:

[If] Khamenei feels Ahmadinejad’s election win has become so controversial, and created so much unrest, that it risks the stability of the regime, it is possible that Khamenei would support a new election or other way to end the crisis. However, in making such a choice, Khamenei has to weigh another factor, too. That is, the danger of alienating his own strongest support base whose face is now Ahmadinejad. This base includes the Basij and the Revolutionary Guards – the ideological armed organizations that were created by Khomeini to protect the Islamic Revolution’s core values.

The difficulties for Khamenei are only compounded by the fact that he personally possesses neither the unquestioned supremacy nor the charisma of the revolution’s founder to single-handedly define just what those core values are today.  Instead, it is precisely this uncertainty over values that now hovers like a genie over the streets of Iran. Last week’s election released it, and now the crisis is about the identity of the country.