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Amanpour: Two governments in Iran
(CNN) -- U.S. pressure on Iran is feeding an internal power struggle within that country. For sometime now, there has been a push for democratic change in Iran but the conservative power base is not yielding. Correspondent Christiane Amanpour discussed the Iranian political situation with CNN's Leon Harris. AMANPOUR: It is often said of Iran that there are two competing governments running the country. There is the popularly elected president, Mohammad Khatami, who was swept to power on a wave of hope in 1997, and then reelected with an even bigger majority in 2001. There is an elected parliament, which is dominated by Khatami-style reformers. The population of Iran is young -- more than half are under the age of 21 -- and many are fed up with the politics of religious extremism and international isolation. They desperately want their economy improved because close to 1 million university graduates enter the job market every year and many cannot find jobs. These are the people who have been electrified by the Khatami's message of democratic and social reform. They have put their trust and faith in his ability to deliver. But he has not been able to deliver. That's, in large part, because of the other government running Iran. This is the unelected one, the most powerful person in the country is Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran's constitution gives him authority over all affairs of state. He's called the supreme leader and was appointed upon the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who led the 1979 Islamic revolution. The supreme leader directs the army, intelligence services, foreign policy and the judiciary. Indeed, although there is more democracy in Iran than in much of the Arab and Muslim world, watchdog bodies under the authority of the supreme leader also vet candidates for election. Since the president's election six years ago, there has been an ongoing political battle between his reformers and the religious leaders over the country's future direction. Recently the parliament asked the supreme leader to stop the organizations under his control from blocking their reforms. In a rare move, members of parliament told the supreme leader that the choice between democracy and dictatorship for Iran lies in his hands. Voters in Iran are losing patience and hope with the slow pace of change at home, and analysts are divided over where this power struggle will lead. Many are also saying that mounting pressure from the United States, which calls Iran part of the axis of evil, has inflamed the power struggle -- putting the democrats and the reformers on the defensive, and putting national security in the hands of the clerical establishment. Indeed, one of the leading mullahs in Iran, the former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, has said the U.S., in its attempt to destabilize and change Iran, is basing its policy on what he called a mistaken notion that the Iranians have got fed up or have lost faith in the Islamic republic. CNN: Does anyone either in that region or outside the region believe Iran would be more democratic if the U.S. was not applying the kind of pressure it is right now? AMANPOUR: Well, you know, that's the perennial question. I think the really fundamental question right now is exactly what kind of policy is going to be directed towards Iran. Certainly you can see within the U.S. that there is a massive tug of war over exactly what the policy will be. Reports are that Donald Rumsfeld, the hard line from the Pentagon, wants a regime change and others are not so sure about that. It is complicated. The State Department says because Iran has a measure of democracy, it's a much more complicated situation than Iraq. Of course, the relationship with the Iranian people to their government is much different than the relationship of the Iraqi people to their dictatorial government. Of course, in Iran, the army is also one that is very, very large and fairly well equipped in the region. It hasn't been under years of sanctions like the Iraqi regime, which was under some 13 years of sanctions. So it's a very different situation going into Iran versus going into Iraq. I think people are very, very eager to see now what is going to be the policy of the United States as it potentially tries to get international cooperation on areas that do trouble the rest of the world, and that is the potential weapons of mass destruction situation in Iran and the support for terrorism such as Hamas and Hezbollah that Iran is accused of supporting. How the U.S. is going to get pressure that really will deal with those issues is now the challenge.
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