Omid Memarian, an Iranian journalist and former Visiting Scholar (’06), and Dariush Zahedi, who teaches in the departments of political economy and peace and conflict studies at UC Berkeley, write on the grim prospects facing Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a new op-ed for the LA Times:

THE BUSH administration’s decision to step up pressure against Iran by going after Iranian agents inside Iraq, coupled with the Islamic Republic’s increasing economic and diplomatic isolation, have pushed conservatives inside Iran to further distance themselves from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Many pragmatic and traditional conservatives, such as former President Hashemi Rafsanjani and Ayatollah Ahmad Janati, who is the secretary of the Council of Guardians, were critical of Ahmadinejad’s management of Iran’s economic and foreign policies before U.S. military forces recently detained members of the Revolutionary Guard and Iranian intelligence agents in Irbil, Iraq. This incident, coupled with the U.N. Security Council’s imposition of sanctions on Iran because of its refusal to abandon its nuclear program, has reportedly prompted 50 parliamentary members to sign a letter calling on Ahmadinejad to appear before parliament to explain himself. There have also been reports that Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has given a green light to parliament to criticize the president’s performance. Coupled with the country’s deteriorating economy, these developments could push Ahmadinejad’s opponents to replace him with a less doctrinaire politician.

Read the full piece here.