Key Player: Mohsen Rezaei

Mohsen Rezaei is the current Secretary of the Expediency Council and a former commander of the Revolutionary Guard. He was also a candidate in the recent elections presenting himself as the conservative alternative to Ahmadinejad. In the current political crisis, Rezaei has sought to speak out against the regime while not actually speaking out against the regime. He has taken a middle road of stance demanding enforcement of the law for everyone, but has not come out directly against the regime. He has been described as a puppet of Rafsanjani, but in many ways he is taking a more cautious approach in coming out against the regime.

Rezaei became head of the Revolutionary Guard at only the age of 27 right after the Revolution in 1981. He stayed in that post for 16 years until 1997 and led the organization during the difficult years of the war with Iraq. The Revolutionary Guard is a shadowy organization that has both highly skilled troops and streets thugs like the Basij. In recent years it has also started its own business enterprises and has a large sway over the economics and politics of the country. His long tenure as head of the Revolutionary Guard allowed him to make many important connections in the country and develop his influence within the regime.

After leaving the Guard, Rezaei became Secretary for the Expediency Council in a position that allows him access to some of the most powerful men in Iran. When Rafsanjani became head of the Expediency Council, his relationship with Rezaei became cemented as a sort of political alliance. Rezaei ran in the recent presidential election and criticized Ahmadinejad for hurting the conservative cause in Iran. Rezaei's politics could best be described by George H.W. Bush's declration about conservatism, "I am a conservative, but I am not a nut about." In the election, Rezaei rejected both the reformists and Ahamdinejad by creating his own nitch of pragmatic conservatism. Due to the fraudulent results we don't know how much support he got, but his official vote total was only a little over 1% of the vote.

Rezaei initially seemed open to challenge the regime in the aftermath of the rigged election results, but his stance continues to go back and forth. After first questioning the official results, he attended Khamenei's Friday Prayers in which the Supreme Leader declared Ahmadinejad the winner. After one of the son's of his top advisers was killed in prison and Rezaei spoke out against the treatment of prisoners in jail, but he did not seem outraged. Recently he has criticized the show trial that is going on in Iran, but he also attended the confirmation ceremony of Ahmadinejad by Khamenei.

Going forward, Rezaei will probably continue this attempt to be on both sides of the political divide. If we see Rezaei making a break and going strongly one way or the other, then we can assume that the side he goes toward is gaining momentum. Rezaei is a conservative who wants to ultimately be on the winning side so he is keeping his options open. Keeping track of what he does will be critical in understanding who is taking control of the situation in Iran.