The true power lies with the Ayatollahs

At least for the outside world an election victory for presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi would only bring cosmetic change, writes the daily De Standaard. Because true power in Iran lies not with elected politicians but with the country's religious leaders: "A president Mousavi would have appeared as 'someone you can talk to'. But for the West, for Israel and on the Iranian nuclear programme he basically agrees with the supreme leader, Ayatollah [Sayyid Ali] Khamenei. ... The question arises whether Mousavi's supporters are really capable of plunging the regime into a political crisis. ... They are facing a formidable force: Khamenei and the religious establishment; the army and the revolutionary guard which control roughly a third of the economy; and the violent Basij militia. The price for political resistance is high in the Ayatollahs' repressive Iran. The outside world can only look on without any great illusions, and push for an honest recount of the votes."

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