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IRAN: A primer on Tehran’s domestic and international crises

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Thirty-one years after the founding of the Islamic Republic, Iran is facing an internal crisis and an external confrontation. Here is a guide to understanding the issues.

What is the internal crisis?

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On July 12, 2009, Iran held an election won by incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Opposition figures, led by former presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi, immediately labeled the elections a fraud. Iran has been wracked by violent demonstrations since.

On Thursday, Iranians will celebrate the founding of the Islamic Republic in 1979 -- and both the government and protesters collectively known as the green movement are bracing for a new round of violence.

How serious is the crisis of legitimacy in Iran?

It is serious enough for the government in recent days to have stepped up its campaign against dissidents as a way of preventing a large number of people from taking to the streets. According to reports from watchdog groups such as the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, at least 1,000 people have been arrested. Journalists and women’s rights advocates in particular have been targeted.

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