Protests mount against Iran arrests
Inside Story

Battle for the soul of Iran

Can external pressure have any influence inside the country to change the regime?

It has been six weeks since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was re-elected as Iran’s president and the controversy over the presidential elections goes on.
 
Ahmedinejad has been forced to dismiss his most senior deputy after a week of pressure from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme leader, telling him that appointing Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie as vice-president was “against your interest and the interests of the government”.

In the letter Ayatollah Khamenei said: “It is necessary to announce the cancellation of this appointment.”
 
On the same weekend campaigners all over the world took to the streets in a mass organised protest. They and Human Rights organisations have been calling for the Iranian leadership to release political prisoners. 

Is internal political fighting on the verge of forcing a regime change in Iran? And can external pressure have any influence inside the country?

Inside Story presenter Imran Garda is joined by Baqer Moin, a journalist and author of the book Khomeini: Life Of The Ayatollah, Kian Mokhtari, a columnist and commentator in Tehran, and Kenneth Katzman, a Persian affairs analyst at the Congressional Research Service in Washington DC.

This episode of Inside Story aired from Sunday, July 26, 2009.