Word: iranianized
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...morning of the inauguration of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to his second term, the regime knew it had the upper hand. Baharestan Square, next to the Majlis, the Iranian parliament, is not a good place to hold a protest rally. The space is small and the streets around it are large, easily filled with cops who can then see everyone and everything that tries to approach. One witness said there were three soldiers in full riot gear for every protester and that there were guard dogs and Basij wielding metal pipes to dissuade would-be demonstrators from gathering...
...expensive populist programs, and spiraling unemployment, particularly within the restless youth population. The regime's obstinacy on the nuclear issue may bring further debilitating international sanctions, which, combined with slumping oil prices, may push fellow conservatives toward a vote of no confidence in their leader. (Watch TIME's video "Iranian Rockers Unite for Freedom...
...defied the Supreme Leader in trying to appoint an in-law as his Vice President. Now, within two weeks, he must appoint a new Cabinet that a divided parliament must approve. But perhaps most pressing is the impending showdown with the West. U.S. President Barack Obama has given the Iranian government a September deadline to come to the negotiating table on the nuclear issue...
...guaranteed the support of a majority. Some Iran watchers saw the Aug. 3 comment by Ahmadinejad that he would "invite all for active participation and planning" as a signal that he may seek to pick a more inclusive Cabinet in order to defuse tensions. (Watch TIME's video "An Iranian Protest March in Paris...
...however, both the President and his backers and foes are sailing in uncharted waters. The rupture in the regime - and in its constitutional contract with the Iranian people, which allows them to democratically choose their President, even if from a limited palate of options - that occurred after June 12 has not been healed. In his second term, Ahmadinejad will have to navigate both the ongoing socioeconomic crisis in Iran, and the international battle of wills over its nuclear program, from a position of diminished political authority and legitimacy. And his domestic political opponents are showing no sign of easing...