Amir Taheri: What the Iranian Elections Really Mean
Often, the choices offered by the regime indicate its current needs and anxieties. …
The elections show that the regime regards security as its most urgent need, with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps dominating the electoral process and filling the incoming Islamic Consultative Assembly (the Majlis) with its retired or active officers. …
In other words, the Islamic Republic has gone the way of many other Third World regimes by shedding most of its early populist illusions and is increasingly relying on the military and security services. Like other revolutions, the Khomeinist revolution has sold its soul to the military in the hope of ensuring its own security.