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Why rift between Iran’s moderates, hard-liners is really about republicanism

The continuing public feud between Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Ayatollah Mohammad-Taghi Mesbah Yazdi suggests that the revolutionary clash between moderates and hard-liners over the nature of the Islamic Republic of Iran is far from over.
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Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Ayatollah Mohammad-Taghi Mesbah Yazdi are two of the most prominent faces in Iranian politics. The former directs the moderation camp, while the latter is the godfather of the hard-liners. President Hassan Rouhani has been a longtime companion of Rafsanjani, while Mesbah Yazdi supported hard-line former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili in the 2013 presidential vote and his past proteges include former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

In the latest salvo in this long-running rivalry, Rafsanjani caused a ruckus earlier this month when he indirectly accused Mesbah Yazdi of being an enemy of the state. Without actually naming his nemesis, Rafsanjani said Dec. 3 that “some enemies of the Imam," meaning Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, "have infiltrated the sensitive centers [of power] under the guise of friendship.”

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