From news article:Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Hoseyni Khamenei has ordered the arrest of a number of senior members of the Revolutionary Guards he suspects of planning to assassinate him, pan-Arab news Channel Al Arabiya reported Tuesday.
Khamenei demanded an investigation of the detainees, "and others," about the alleged assassination plot, an "informed source in Iran" told the Emirati news station.
According to the source, "some of those" detained had invited Khamenei to come and visit the same weapons depot near Tehran where a large blast killed 17 people, among them the head of Iran's ballistic-missiles program.
Khamenei was invited to visit on Novemeber 12, the same day as the blast, according to the Al Arabiya report.
http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Arti...ID=249309&R=R1
If this is accurate it's huge. This means that Khameni - the seat of power in Iran is waging a cold war against Ahmadinejad and Khameni's own family. By implication this pits the IRGC against some but not all of the vast religious 'charities' that control Iran's economy and hold most of it's wealth. It also means that there is not singular control over Iran's overall nuclear weapons programs. Power is split along several factions.
But it also means that Ahmadinejad is too powerful to remove. Moreover, Khameni is old and has cancer purportedly. And he'll have to suppress the liberal factions that started the abortive 'green' movement at the same time. But Ahmadinejad has a crumbling economy to deal with while he's struggling with Khameni. And both of them have to contend with sanctions, maintaining power in Iraq and dealing with sabotage and intelligence assaults from Israel and others, including Saudi Arabia who no doubt is keeping a hand in.
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