WORLD RESPONSE TO IRAN A MAJOR FACTOR IN INTERNAL POLITICS

Given the fragmentation of Iran\'s conservative ruling elite, the response of the major powers to Iran\'s nuclear ambitions will greatly affect the outcome of the current power struggle inside the country -- and by implication, the fate of Iran's nuclear program, write Dariush Zahedi, who teaches International Political Economy and Peace & Conflict Studies at University of California, Berkeley, and Ali Assareh, a student instructor and analyst specialising in the political economy of the Middle East at UC Berkeley.