Al Monitor | Rohollah Faghihi:�Hard-liners in Iran face the key challenge of�a new generation�questioning the approach being taken�by the old guard. Members of the younger generation, unlike their older peers,�are challenging anyone who acts against their expectations, even including when that person happens to be�Qasem Soleimani,�commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps'�Quds Force, the most popular figure in the conservative camp.


Traditional Iranian hard-liners are broadly characterized by their anti-Americanism and�opposition to engagement with the West, desire for�"revolutionary" foreign relations and�opposition to any form of liberalism�promoted by Reformists. In short, they have�a general�intolerance toward cultural and political change.

The new generation, however, espouses the hard-line�discourse,�yet do not adhere to the Principlist camp of�conservatives. They call themselves "innovative revolutionaries," on a mission to lead a renaissance in their camp. They�accuse the old guard of being overly�cautious�and of�betraying�the spirit of Ayatollah Rouhollah Khomeini,�founder of the Islamic Republic. This generation tends to be more uncompromising than their predecessors, viewing�their rivals as sworn enemies with whom forming alliances is unthinkable.

In a May�interview, Payam Fazlinejad, a young hard-line analyst, said of the new�generation, "We are faced with�'innovative revolutionaries'�who have distinctly critical thoughts, which are based on the originalist�remarks of the Imam [Khomeini] and the [supreme] leader [Ayatollah Ali Khamenei]. [They] think about�reforms and renaissance to help the [Islamic] Revolution overcome challenges."

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