[Source]
“Nobody knows what is going to happen next in Iran – least of all, one suspects, the main players involved. But two broad conclusions emerge from the continuing political turmoil. The first is that the supreme leader has lost his supremacy. [...] The second conclusion is that if the regime will not change, the power of its institutions will continue to fade. The importance of Mr Rafsanjani’s sermon lay not just in what he said, although that was clear enough: acknowledging publicly that the country was in crisis, calling for unity and the release of political detainees. It was the way he grounded his attack on today’s rulers in the founding values of the Islamic Republic and its former supreme leader, Ayatollah Khomeini. When Mr Rafsanjani said that Ayatollah Khomeini never broke his bond with the Iranian people, it was clear who had broken it. As one observer noted, it was almost as if he was angling for the supreme leader’s job himself. Peace can be forcibly restored to Tehran’s streets, but the challenge of Mr Rafsanjani’s words will linger.” – LINK
See also these interesting takes: here and here.
Here as well:
