Was just digging around a few news sites and came across this story:
Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has suffered a potentially fatal blow to his authority after the country's supreme leader gave an
apparent green light for MPs to attack his economic policies.
In an unprecedented rebuke, 150 parliamentarians signed a letter blaming Mr Ahmadinejad for raging inflation and high unemployment and criticising his
government's failure to deliver the budget on time. They also condemned him for embarking on a tour of Latin America - from which he returns tomorrow
- at a time of mounting crisis.
Full story can be found
here.
How much truth there is to it I'm not entirely sure but it's encouraging news for many nations who are concerned at the Iranian nuclear programme.
If Ahmadinejad is ousted and a more moderate replacement is found (perhaps Hashemi Rafsanjani, who is mentioned in the article) a diplomatic solution
becomes much more likely. Didn't moderate candidates do well in elections in Iran recently too? Could be indicative of a change of tact on the part
of the Iranians - they seem to feel Bush will 'deal' with them before he leaves office and don't particularly want him to do it via the military
route or via more sanctions (which will make the mounting economic problems within Iran even worse). Could there be hope for a peaceful suspension of
Iranian nuclear activities?