Iran election dispute escalates to new phase

Lashing out
Khamenei's center of support is the Guardian Council, which has perhaps the most wide-ranging power. It reviews parliament's laws to ensure they adhere to Islamic principles, and it oversees elections, with the power to remove candidates it considers insufficiently loyal to the system. Its members are predominantly hard-line clerics, who have spoken out strongly since the election, telling the people to fall in line behind Khamenei and Ahmadinejad.

The other two bodies are both headed by Rafsanjani. The Expediency Council's role is to mediate when the Guardians Council and parliament disagree. The Experts Assembly chooses the supreme leader and in theory could remove him — though such a step has never been considered and attempting it would be a nearly unthinkable escalation.

Since Friday, hard-line clerics, politicians and media have been lashing out at Rafsanjani.

Warning to Rafsanjani
Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, a member of the Guardian Council, bluntly said Rafsanjani was "wrong" for contending in his sermon that popular support is the basic condition for the Islamic Republic; he said the system's legitimacy comes from God.

Yazdi accused Rafsanjani of causing rifts in the leadership and warned: "Anybody resisting against the ruling system will be broken."

Rafsanjani may try to use his levers within the system to pressure Khamenei to bend. Khamenei long ruled by balancing factions and by at least keeping an appearance of being above the fray.

Rafsanjani also has another potential tool: the many prominent clerics and theologians who don't hold positions on the ruling bodies. Many of these clerics appear discontent — some speaking out in support of Mousavi, others showing their anger by failing to explicitly back Ahmadinejad. They have wide popular followings and their support is key to the Islamic Republic's legitimacy.

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