Iran’s regime and opposition on course for deadly showdown

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his hard-line supporters are calling for opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi to be tried for sedition after he announced Saturday, Aug. 15, the formation of The Green Path of Hope movement to restore the people’s stolen rights. debkafile‘s Iranian sources report that Ahmadinejad is trying to build a puppet government composed of inexperienced, pliant cronies and officials known for their brutality to usher in a takeover of the regime by the Revolutionary Guards.
The two factions are set for a final showdown.
The regime hardliners are bent on smashing the opposition by brute force. Their leaders face trials on charges that carry the death sentence, such as sedition.
Sunday, Aug. 13, a third group of 25 protesters against the disputed presidential election goes on trial before the Revolutionary Court. The first two sessions were blasted as travesties of justice and “show trials.”
Seven leaders of the Baha’i community are also to be tried for allegedly spying for Israel and desecrating Islam.
Although the president has muscled his way past many obstacles, he has been held back from forming by bitter factional strife within the regime, which is reflected in the Majlis, parliament, where the majority refuses to accredit his planned lineup. Many conservatives have turned him down after fired 14 ministers in humiliating circumstances.
The cabinet beginning to emerge now, according to our Iranian sources, is as follows:
The Ministry of Intelligence will go to one of three candidates: Hossein Taeb, commander of the Basijj thugs responsible for abusing opposition demonstrators in recent weeks; Esmail Ahmadi Moghadam, head of the security services, and Mohammad Rouyanian, chief of the Transportation Police, who is known for his brutal methods.
The candidates for Minister of the Interior are Rouhollah Hosseinian, head of the Revolutionary Archive, and Ahmad Reza Radan, deputy commander of the security service. Reza Radan resigned as warden of the Kahrizak prison on the southern edge of Tehran after extreme case of torture and murder were exposed. Contrary to the official claim, this chamber of horrors is still open and several dozen political detainees continue to suffer abuse.
debkafile carried an exclusive expose of the atrocities suffered by political prisoners in this and six other Iranian prisons. To read it
click HERE
There is a fierce struggle for the Petroleum Ministry which controls 85 percent of the national foreign exchange income and most of the funding for the regime’s covert military, missile and nuclear programs.
The president has not yet decided whether to leave the hardline Mostafa Najar in the Defense Ministry or transfer him to the Interior department.
Manouchehr Mottaki may be dropped as Foreign Minister as Ahmadinejad and his clique finds him too soft. One candidate for the job is Iran’s nuclear negotiator Said Jalili, who is secretary of the National Security Council.
The Iranian president promises to publish his cabinet in full by Tuesday, August 18, but he still has to overcoming factional infighting and win the support of parliament – and that could take weeks.