THE CITY CIRCLE

Since the results of Iran's controversial presidential elections last June, that saw the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmedinajed amidst widespread concerns over vote rigging and subsequent crackdown on pro-democracy protestors, a fresh spotlight has been thrown on the workings of the Islamic Republic of Iran. 

Iran became an 'Islamic State' in 1979 when some of the ulema (clerics) took control and Shariah became state law, a law whose ultimate arbitrator is the unelected Supreme Leader and his appointed ulema. 

The Islamist regime accuses the opposition of being agents of America, Britain and Israel, the opposition meanwhile maintain theirs is a grassroots movement and accuse the government of brutally killing and torturing protestors. Iran's Islamic government is opposed by many Iranian ulema who accuse it of being a religious tyranny. 

So what is really going on in the Islamic Republic? The Islamic government claims to be a democracy but how democratic can an Islamic state really be when ulema, and not the people, are sovereign? And with its old enemies Saddam and the Talban gone, what of Iran's growing regional influence? Both Israel and Saudi Arabia are opposed to what they see as Iran's menacing behaviour in their backyards. Has the regime missed an opportunity to respond positively to President Obama's conciliatory tone? Is the likelihood of a military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities rising or diminishing? And would an attack simply consolidate the hardliners and allow them to crush the internal democratic movement even further? 

To help us unravel these questions we are very pleased to have one of the world's leading authorities on Iran, Professor Ali Ansari of St Andrews University, where he is Professor of Iranian History.