Four senior Iranian officials and two IRGC members told The New York Times that the visible split in Iran's conservative camp is only a small part of a much deeper internal power struggle, with each faction trying to pull the new Supreme Leader to its side in order to shape Iran's political future, according to the report.
A report published by The New York Times on Saturday, citing four senior Iranian officials and two members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), describes an ongoing power struggle within Iran's conservative camp that runs far deeper than the public infighting suggests. According to the sources, each faction — including elements tied to the IRGC and other conservative blocs — is actively maneuvering to win the allegiance of the new Supreme Leader and secure its influence over the country's political trajectory.
This report corroborates earlier signals that Iran's conservative establishment is fracturing amid the transition of leadership. As The Zioneer previously reported, IRGC-linked analysts and senior sources have acknowledged divisions between the Guards and reformist elements, but the current account from anonymous insiders goes further, suggesting the rift penetrates into the conservative core itself and that the competition for control over the new leader is a central feature of the internal contest. The claims remain attributed to anonymous Iranian officials and IRGC members, without independent Israeli or Western corroboration at this stage.
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Source and signal
A single-sourced dispatch is never rated Confirmed or Strong. Its Signal strengthens only when a second, independent source corroborates it.
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