TEHRAN — Four children of an influential former Iranian president are suing a radical lawmaker for describing his family as a corrupt ‘‘octopus,’’ heating up a struggle between hard-liners and moderates simmering since a contested 2009 election.
The latest salvo has rekindled the bitterness between backers of the current president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and moderates headed by the former leader, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, just six months ahead of the next presidential election.
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Those interested here may want to read Stranger to History by Aatish Taseer, documenting a trip through Muslim lands in 2005-06, including a very interesting account of his stay in Iran. The one thing most observers think will secure the present regime is an attack on Iran by the US and/or Israel. The divisions in Iran are strong and the clerics are not as powerful as they may appear without further scrutiny. Only OUR precipitate action could fully unite the people behind the current regime and thus be a defeat for us the moment the attack is launched.