Iran Meantime Back in Tehran

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While Hashemi, former chief of the Tehran bureau responsible for exporting Islamic-style revolution, is an expendable power broker, the case against him has wider political significance. The Iranscam affair became public knowledge after radical supporters of Hashemi reportedly leaked the story of Iran's covert diplomatic and military dealings with the U.S. to ash-Shiraa, the Lebanese magazine that Ronald Reagan subsequently described as "that rag in Beirut." Moreover, Khomeini's public support for punishing Hashemi has been interpreted by some observers as evidence that the radicals in the Iranian leadership are losing ground to the pragmatists.

Even so, Khomeini has gone to considerable lengths to avoid giving the impression that he has withdrawn his support of Montazeri as his handpicked successor. He has, for example, permitted Montazeri to characterize Hashemi as a sort of loose cannon, an Iranian-style Oliver North who frequently acted on his own. Montazeri has denied any complicity in Hashemi's illegal activities and has pressed for a full investigation at "whatever cost." In his televised confession, Hashemi admitted that he had "abused the confidence" of Montazeri.

Beyond that, the nature of the maneuvering for the succession is as murky as ever. Besides Montazeri, the contenders for the post-Khomeini leadership are Rafsanjani, the dominant figure in parliament and a power broker extraordinary; and Hojatoleslam Seyed Ali Khamene'i, 47, the country's hard- line President.

Of the three, Rafsanjani is the most flexible toward the West, a negotiator and pragmatist in a government of purists. He has initiated discreet diplomatic openings to the West, and is believed to have championed the negotiations with both France and the U.S. for the release of the remaining hostages in Lebanon. He is thought to have tried to reduce Iran's financial support of fanatical terrorism abroad. Some U.S. officials believe that he has argued for an end to the human-wave assaults against Iraq in order to ease public resentment over the war's harrowing cost in lives. Others, however, maintain that Rafsanjani has at times championed the suicidal mass attacks and has a reputation for tailoring his political and military views to meet the situation at hand.

His chief rival is Montazeri, who has known Khomeini for at least 40 years and whose power base is the vast network of clerics who exert enormous influence over the population. It is widely believed that Montazeri's aides maintain close contacts with the Lebanese Shi'ite captors of the American hostages and that his militant supporters worked to block the efforts of Rafsanjani to trade arms for the captives held in Lebanon. According to this theory, Rafsanjani retaliated by arresting Hashemi and his associates on a variety of charges, and the hard-liners in turn put an end to Rafsanjani's secret dealings with the U.S. by making them public.