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In Iran, the Balance of Power Has Been Shifting from Ayatollah Khamenei to the Revolutionary Guards
(New York Times) Declan Walsh - Israeli airstrikes that pounded Iran's capital last June caused the greatest single blow to Iran's military in decades, wiping out the top leadership of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Now the IRGC's new leaders have responded to nationwide protests with breathtaking brutality, opening fire on unarmed protesters and massacring thousands of people. On the surface, the bloody crackdown affirmed the unity of Iran's ruling system. "The regime is ideologically bankrupt, economically at a dead end, and unable to rescue itself," said Ali Vaez, the Iran project director for the International Crisis Group. "But it still has the will, and a fearsome capacity for repression." For years, the balance of power in Iran has been quietly shifting from Ayatollah Khamenei, 86, to the Revolutionary Guards. They control a media empire, large parts of the economy, oil exports, seaports, an intelligence agency and an air force. Iran's government has survived at least four earlier waves of protest, many of which also stirred speculation of regime change.