Khamenei and Ahmadinejad are fighting to the finish for the supremacy of their factions in Iran’s March 2 general election unheeding of the mounting political chaos in Tehran, international sanctions or the threat of war.

The White House expects talks to start in days and lead to the halting of Iran’s nuclear program development and nuclear enrichment and the dismantling of its nuclear weapons facilities and labs. Israel’s Binyamin Netanyahu is less sanguine, says sanctions or not working and slams Iran as “the most ...

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his inner council are very near to deciding on an unanswerable rejoinder to the rising level of international pressure on its nuclear program, DEBKA-Net-Weekly disclosed in its latest issue out last Friday.  It is designed to checkmate the West's drive to curb Iran's nuclear aspirations in the coming days before a military option develops and sanctions cut down to the bone.
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Tehran has come around to deciding that Bashar Assad will have to be forced out of the Syrian presidency and may be willing to join forces with the US, Saudi Arabia and Turkey to accomplish this – provided the foursome can get past a whole thicket of animosities.

Khamenei's son and heir Mojtaba and Al Qods leaders hatched the plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington. Whether it succeeded or not, they hoped to provoke a limited military clash with the United States and Saudi Arabia to ward off the spread of popular uprisings into Iran ...

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the driving force behind Iran's nuclear program and most vocal of Israel's enemies, is on his last legs as president. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has stripped him of most of his powers and shut the door against his allies running for the Majlis (parliament) in March 2012.  debkafile's Iranian sources: The coming men in the presidential stakes of 2013 are Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani, a former nuclear negotiator with the West, and ex-foreign minister Ali Akhbar Veliyati. Both are hardliners.

Washington seeks a broad give-and-take deal for cooperation with Iran and guarantees of security for US troop units staying in Iraq and Afghanistan. Iran wants Syria and Bahrain in the package.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei ruthlessly chopped President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad down to size to diminish his UN appearance. The continued detention until Wednesday of the two jailed US hikers was intended to bring Washington to heel.

After bringing Iran to a nuclear bomb capability, Ahmadinejad might as well go, as far as for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is concerned, especially as he has become ambitious. The shift of power to Khamenei leaves Barak Obama's strategy for engaging Iran high and dry.

On balance, Tehran has decided the Arab Revolt is not good for the Islamic Republic of Iran. Nullifying Western influence is good, but the rise of Sunni strength is not, while the revolt engulfing Syria is endangering Iran's nearest and dearest ally. And can Tehran be sure the malaise ...

The rupture between Iran's two top figures, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Ahmadinejad, is deepening. The latter is battling accusations of underhand dealings with the West, sedition against the regime, a coup conspiracy and… sorcery. Khamenei is blocking Ahmadinejad's efforts to run his close crony for the presidency.

The long-expected feud between Khamenei and Ahmadinejad has burst into the open resulting in paralyzed government Iranian intelligence networks. A victory by the supreme leader would draw to an end the president's career. If the latter, he will supersede Khamenei.

Assad looks for scapegoat for his troubles after his fights against the burgeoning uprising against him reaches a stalemate. Tehran found a ready ear in pinning the blame on Saudi Arabia.

After six years of unrelenting persecution, Ahmadinejad managed to rid himself of his arch-rival, former president Hashemi Rafsanjani. He has placed himself in a strong position for choosing the next Supreme Leader after Ayatollah Khamenei.

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has tabbed the Al Qods Brigades chief Gen. Ghassam Soleimani new commander of Iran's armed forces as part of Iran's war preparations in case of attack over its nuclear program. He also proposes to buttress the pro-Iranian coup in Beirut by building an Iranian ...

Hizballah's campaign against the Hariri Tribunal and the Lebanese government may have gone too far. Syria's Bashar Assad has withdrawn his support in favor of bolstering Saad Hariri and Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is planning to murder him to save is own skin from the tribunal.

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri ended his two-day visit to Tehran Monday, Nov. 29, with consent for Iranian Revolutionary Guards officers to take part for the first time in coordinating sessions between Lebanese army and Hizballah commanders, debkafile's military and Iranian sources report. Supreme leader AliKhamenei gave Hariri his new orders, indicating that the only way to save Lebanon from deathly internal strife was for him to consolidate relations with Hizballah "as the same front."

In its latest issue, out Friday, DEBKA-Net-Weekly offers the first glimpse ever of Iran's spiritual ruler Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's most private lifestyle. This secretive holy man, who is empowered with the final say-so on his country's nuclear program, is portrayed with his favorite aides, the nuts and bolts of his unfettered authority and his...unsuspected hedonistic indulgences. ...