Key Player: Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi

Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi (usually simple referred to as Mesbah Yazdi) is a hardline Ayatollah and perhaps the most radical of the high clergy in Iran. He has been described as the spiritual adviser to Ahmadinejad and is one of the main proponent of extreme hardline thought in Iran. He is interesting to follow because he gives you a sense for the theological underpinning to Ahmadinejad. It is also important to note that he is a good example of the split between the Ahmadinejad camp and the more mainstream hardliners like Khamenei. His views are the most extreme so much so that he often frightens other hardliners.

Mesbah Yazdi trained to become a cleric in Qom were he studied under Khomeini and other prominent clerics. After the 1979 Revolution, Mesbah Yazdi was deemed to be too extreme by Khomeini and fell out of favor with the regime. He is even rumored to be part of a secret Shii organization called the Hojjatieh that Khomenei banned in 1983. The group emphasizes the importance of the return of the hidden Imam and holds radical views.

Mesbah Yazdi was one of the fieriest critics on the reformists when they came to power in 1997 and encouraged the brutal crackdown on the student protests in 1999. He is extremely popular among the extremists in the Basiji and the rest of the Revolutionary Guard.

He came to prominence with the election of Ahmadinejad in 2005 giving him access to the upper levels of power. He was also elected to the Assembly of Experts and has deep influence among the most radical of the hardliners. He presents a vision of Islam that makes disobedience to the Supreme Leader unacceptable and does not accept the right of the people to rule themselves. Many have called him an Iranian version of the Taliban for his extreme and fundamentalist views Islam.

Mesbah Yazdi fully supported Ahmadinejad after the rigged presidential election and blasted the protests that took place. Since the Supreme Leader said Ahmadinejad is President, then Khamenei's decision cannot be questioned by the people. Anyone who does question the Supreme Leader is questioning God himself and is a heretic. Even though this radical view supports the regime, it also presents a radical picture of those in power. The more sensible wing of the hardliners wants to distance itself from Mesbah Yazdi and his more radical ideas. He is squarely in the Ahmadinejad camp and it will be interesting to see how he will react as the gap between the more mainstream hardliners and Ahmadinejad widens.

p.s. He is often referred to as Professor Mesbah by his followers. A popular cartoon diction refers to him as Professor Temsah (the Iranian word for crocodile). Mesbah and Temsah rhyme in Farsi so he is Professor Crocodile. The caption is an actual quote from Mesbah Yazdi, "Isn't any one to free me from this bribed reformist."