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56 | MAHTAB ALAM RIZVI<br />
answered, “It doesn’t matter; it stays in the family [if they stage a<br />
coup] as they are our own guys”. 115<br />
The major involvement of the IRGC in Iranian politics began during<br />
the presidency of Mohammad Khatami (1997-2005). As discussed<br />
above, Khatami was a moderate president <strong>and</strong> wanted to liberalise<br />
Iranian society, <strong>and</strong> was in favour of maintaining good relations with<br />
the West. However, Khatami’s stance on domestic <strong>and</strong> <strong>for</strong>eign policies<br />
was not well perceived by the conservative-dominated Iranian military<br />
establishment including the IRGC. In September 1997, shortly after<br />
assuming the presidency, Khatami tried to weaken the IRGC by<br />
successfully wielding pressure on Khamenei (the Comm<strong>and</strong>er-in-Chief<br />
of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic) to remove Mohsen<br />
Rezai, the comm<strong>and</strong>er of the IRGC since 1981. 116 During the<br />
presidential elections, Rezai had supported Khatami’s rival <strong>and</strong><br />
conservative presidential c<strong>and</strong>idate, Ali Akbar Natiq Nuri. Khatami<br />
was successful in replacing Rezai by appointing Yahya Rahim Safavi in<br />
his place as the comm<strong>and</strong>er of the IRGC. However, the change in<br />
leadership did not affect the functioning of the IRGC or the structural<br />
changes within the IRGC, <strong>and</strong> Safavi continued with the policies of his<br />
predecessor.<br />
In July 1999, at the height of the students’ protests, it became clear that<br />
the IRGC did not tolerate Khatami’s re<strong>for</strong>m movement which they<br />
feared would dismantle the very principles of the velayat-e-faqih. The<br />
protests started on July 8, in Tehran, <strong>and</strong> were against the ban of the<br />
re<strong>for</strong>mist newspaper, Salam, by the press court, <strong>and</strong> dem<strong>and</strong>ed re<strong>for</strong>ms<br />
to be introduced in the country. 117 The newspaper was run by the<br />
Association of Combatant Clerics, the re<strong>for</strong>mist political party to which<br />
115<br />
Mohsen Rezai’s official biography, Zendegi-e doktor-e Mohsen Reza’i dar yek negah.<br />
www.rezaee.ir. See also, Frederic Wehrey, Jerrold D. Green<br />
116<br />
Wilfried Buchta, ‘Iran’s Security Sector: An Overview’, Geneva Centre For The<br />
Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF), Conference Paper, Geneva, July 2004,<br />
p. 9<br />
117<br />
For details, see ‘Evaluating the Political <strong>and</strong> Economic Role of the IRGC’, Strategic<br />
Analysis, Vol. 36, 4, July-August 2012.
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