Who Is in Control of the Islamic Republic?

Letter From Tehran

چه کسی‌ قدرت را در ایران در دست دارد؟

The headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) are in a European-style palace, replete with Greek columns and a grand staircase, in the eastern suburbs of Tehran. From here, the IRGC orchestrated the crackdown that followed Iran's disputed presidential vote in June, beating protestors on the street and torturing those behind bars. More ominously, the IGRC and other extreme hard-liners have sidelined fellow conservatives in the Iranian government, carving out their own power base in a regime that is becoming increasingly insular, reactionary, and violent.

http://www.foreignaffairs.com/features/letters-from/letter-from-tehran
JERRY GUO was an analyst in an Iranian investment bank in Tehran.