海角大神

Nearly eight months after President Hassan Rouhani's聽surprise聽election victory, in which聽the centrist cleric trounced influential conservative candidates, Iran's hardliners are behaving as if they never lost.聽

Shadowy vigilantes聽on motorcycles have menaced the family home of a pro-Rouhani filmmaker,聽and reform-minded journalists are showing up on target lists.聽Hard-line聽Friday聽prayer leaders warn darkly that seditionists "have become ambitious" with Mr. Rouhani in power, and the motorcade of the president himself was hit with eggs and a shoe after Rouhani placed a historic phone call to President Barack Obama.聽

鈥淚t鈥檚 not a full-fledged war, but they are trying to start one,鈥� says an Iranian journalist who could not be named because of the sensitivity of the subject.聽鈥淭hey are very small circles, but they are closely knit and they operate while enjoying impunity."

Hardliners are resisting pressure to fall into line, though Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei months ago ordered all power centers to support Rouhani, and has backed the nuclear negotiations while keeping up a steady stream of anti-US rhetoric.聽

Today, hours before technical talks on the interim nuclear deal resumed, Mr. Khamenei said that Iran would 鈥渘egotiate with this Satan [the US] in order to ward off its evil and resolve the issue,鈥� according to state-run PressTV.聽

鈥淭oday we [moderate/reformists] are in government 鈥� this is the reality. The necessity of change is recognized,鈥� says Saeed Laylaz, a reformist analyst and economist who has done prison time since the 2009 vote,聽often referred to as the 2009 "sedition" by hardliners.

鈥淩adicalism is not a strong movement in the country,鈥� says Mr. Laylaz. 鈥淓very time they have enough capacity to govern the system and economy without the people, they do it. [Now after the Rouhani win] they have no other choice but to shut up.鈥澛�

But keeping quiet has rarely been a hard-line trait. In the late 1990s, vigilante groups such as Ansar-e Hezbollah launched attacks against students, newspapers, and聽reformist political groups they saw as 鈥渄angerous.鈥� Combined with other pressure and a string of killings by a rogue cell of intelligence operatives in 1999, those actions neutered the overwhelmingly popular, reformist presidency of Mohammad Khatami.聽

Rouhani has been close to the centers of power since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, and is seen as trusted by Khamenei as well as having the moderate and reformist camps. He declared that his victory meant an "end to extremism" in Iran. Yet聽supporters fret that the new president, upon whom they have pinned hopes of聽easing Iran's years of聽isolation and ideological rule, is struggling to counter the hard-line pushback.

鈥淚 used to be optimistic, but now I am less so; the resistance against Rouhani鈥檚 agenda is so great,鈥� says the Iranian journalist who could not be named. 鈥淭he people voted for him, but he doesn鈥檛 hold all the levers of power.鈥�

A check on reformers

While Khamenei is assumed to control Iran's hardliners, in practice he allows them some leeway as a check on reformists or moderates. As a result, he can't always influence or contain every action.

鈥淎nsar is so 1990s,鈥� says an analyst in Tehran who asked not to be named. 鈥淭hese guys don鈥檛 call themselves anything, they just show up and put a bullet in your head, more rogue than not. [Khamenei] isn鈥檛 as tightly in control over everything as most people think.鈥�

The hardliners are motivated by the belief that they are the last chance to reverse聽what they believe to be a catastrophic undermining of Iran鈥檚 Islamic ideology. They are fighting on two fronts: At home against a more inclusive political scene; and abroad against any compromise on the nuclear program and other issues.

That view has been reflected from the Tehran聽Friday聽prayer pulpit, where Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, a renowned hardliner, warned angrily in December that Rouhani鈥檚 election had given new life to a dangerous clique of regime opponents.聽

鈥淭here is a feeling that some seditionists are revived and have become ambitious,鈥� thundered Mr. Khatami, his eyes bulging as his voice rose, his hand on the barrel of an AK-47 assault rifle. Rouhani鈥檚 government included 鈥渁ccomplices鈥� to the 2009 sedition who are 鈥渋nsolent and feel that now the situation is to their advantage," he said.聽

Khatami proclaimed that anyone who doubted the term 鈥渟edition鈥� should remember that Khamenei himself used it 200 times since 2009. He listed crimes as diverse as turning Tehran into a 鈥渂attleground,鈥� and 鈥渋ntimate relations with foreigners [which] are still vivid in the nation鈥檚 memory.鈥� He said 鈥渕illions鈥� of Iranians shared his views, and were 鈥渧igilant.鈥�

A list of reform-leaning journalists has circulated, suggesting that they should be targeted as 鈥渟edition provokers.鈥� Ansar-e Hezbollah has railed against Iranian films popular in the West. And some two dozen militants on motorcycles sprayed graffiti and menaced the family home of a pro-Rouhani filmmaker, after memos in hard-line circles stated that his work must be 鈥渟topped" 鈥� the kind of acts that in the past led to death threats and violence.

Upon his election,聽Rouhani vowed to 鈥渄esecuritize鈥� the political environment and promised 鈥渃onstructive engagement鈥� with the West.聽

鈥淲e need to strike the right balance between idealism and realism. There are those who want to close the gateways to this country,鈥� Rouhani told university students in December. He has promised to free political prisoners, and some students chanted for the release of former 2009 presidential candidates and Green Movement leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, under house arrest for some 1,000 days.

鈥淭his government is committed to all its promises, but we need internal consensus,鈥� said Rouhani.

But hard-line moves appear aimed at reining in some of those ambitions, as they successfully did a decade ago. The Iranian journalist explains that their聽鈥渋nterest lies in levels of tension鈥� 鈥� and they have plenty of resources to pour into it.聽

鈥淧eople speak of the 鈥楧eep State鈥� in Turkey. I think we have one of our own here,鈥� adds the journalist. 鈥�And like the Republicans and Tea Party in the US, whoever talks tough, they can steal the agenda. They are not leaving the stage; they think they are still in charge.鈥�