Iran We are now going to look at the tension between the U.S. and Iran, but before understanding why there is so much tension, we must first examine the political make-up of Iran. Before we look at the Iranian Govt Structure, how is the U.S. government structured?

Iran’s Government Structure

Iran has a complex and unusual political system It combines elements of a modern Islamic theocracy with democracy. A network of unelected institutions controlled by the highly powerful conservative Supreme Leader is countered by a president and parliament elected by the people.

For much of the last decade, Iranian politics has been characterized by continued power struggle between these elected and unelected institutions as a reformist president - and, at times, parliament - struggled against the conservative establishment. But with extreme conservatives regaining control of the parliament in 2004 and the presidency in 2005, all the organs of government are now dominated by conservatives.

Long story short… Even when more moderate, elected officials were in power, they were over ruled by the conservative, Supreme Leader This system is more like a “constitutional monarchy”, but with the roles reversed The Leader has the supreme authority (he who is NOT elected), whereas the elected body can be more of a puppet government at times

Iranian Webquest Over the next few days, we will be examining the tensions between the United States and Iran The Focus: How does the Iranian government’s structure play a role in Iranian society? What are the underlying tensions between the U.S. and Iran?