Iran: A Spotlight on the Intra-Conservative Rift

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sept. 19 chastised political factions in Tehran for infighting, which he said was undermining the process of governance. For Khamenei to use the occasion of a rare Friday sermon to discuss internal disputes in such a public way indicates that intra-conservative rifts have reached a critical stage. Disagreements over the economy and foreign policy, and especially over how to deal with the United States over Iraq and the nuclear issue, are so great that a consensus is unlikely to come anytime soon.