Elections Won't Alter Iran's Strategy

Iran will hold parliamentary elections in February 2020 amid Washington's so-called maximum pressure campaign and associated sanctions. The initiative is wreaking havoc on all levels of Iran's economy and society, and the flagging health of the economy has become a major campaign issue for moderate and hard-line factions. But whatever new Iranian government emerges from the elections, the Supreme Council of Economic Coordination will continue to make the most important economic decisions just as the Supreme National Security Council will continue to make the most important national security decisions. In Iran's complicated political system, it is unelected institutions like these two -- not the executive branch or parliament -- that control the most important levers of power, helping guarantee regime continuity....