Mullahs, Guards, and Bonyads An Exploration of Iranian Leadership Dynamics

The Islamic Republic of Iran poses serious challenges to U.S. interests in the Middle East, and its nuclear program continues to worry the international community. The presidential election of June 2009 that returned Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power and led to broad protests and a government crackdown presents yet another cause for U.S. concern. Yet the U.S. ability to “read” the Iranian regime and formulate appropriate policies has been handicapped by both a lack of access to the country and the opacity of decisionmaking in Tehran. To help analysts better understand the Iranian political system, the authors describe

•Iranian strategic culture, including the perceptions that drive state behavior
•the informal networks, formal government institutions, and personalities that influence decisionmaking in the Islamic Republic
•the impact of elite behavior on Iranian policy formulation and execution
•factionalism, emerging fissures within the current regime, and other key trends.