ABSTRACT
This article examines the Islamic Republic of Iran's conflicted posture towards the unprecedented popular movements to bring about change of leadership in the Middle East as it attempts to reap the geopolitical benefits of political upheavals in the region while at the same time holding at bay intense domestic conflicts both at the elite and societal levels. Laying out the particularities of Iran's post-revolutionary dynamics, a case is made that the yearning for political reform should be placed within the broader context of socioeconomic changes and the reality that the revolution has given birth to ideologically differentiated middle classes that are contending for power and have yet to find their way towards political accommodation.
