Image via WikipediaUltimately It Is About Iran, Because That Is Where It All StartedThe Guardian: Ahmadinejad Allies Charged With Sorcery: an increasingly bitter power struggle .... a growing rift between Ahmadinejad and Khamenei which has prompted several MPs to call for the president to be impeached. ..... On Sunday, Ahmadinejad returned to his office after an 11-day walkout in an apparent protest over Khamenei's reinstatement of the intelligence minister, who the president had initially asked to resign ...... Ahmadinejad's unprecedented disobedience prompted harsh criticism from conservatives who warned that he might face the fate of Abdulhassan Banisadr, Iran's first post-revolution president who was impeached and exiled for allegedly attempting to undermine clerical power. ....... Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, a hardline cleric close to Khamenei, warned that disobeying the supreme leader – who has the ultimate power in Iran – is equivalent to "apostasy from God". ....... the feud has taken a metaphysical turn following the release of an Iranian documentary alleging the imminent return of the Hidden Imam Mahdi – the revered saviour of Shia Islam, whose reappearance is anticipated by believers in a manner comparable to that with which Christian fundamentalists anticipate the second coming of Jesus. ...... Ahmadinejad's obsession with the hidden imam is well known. He often refers to him in his speeches and in 2009 said that he had documentary evidence that the US was trying to prevent Mahdi's return.This is how you know the regime in Iran is only months away from getting toppled. This rift is a sign the regime in Iran is feeling the pressure of street action elsewhere in the Arab world.
