This is a Persian tale where more is obscured than is revealed. Its storyline twists and turns remains enigmatic and is partially conspiratorial. It begins with the sudden helicopter crash killing Ebrahim Raisi, an extremist murderous and hated politician who dies on the spot.
Who may be responsible, remains a mystery but his demise in May, came just one month after Iran attacked Israel with hundreds of missiles. The attack prompted the formation of an unprecedented, Israeli, American and Arab coalition that dealt Iran's missile force - an arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a humiliating defeat.
The rest of the tail is no less surprising. Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei did not mourn Raisi for long and announced elections for a new president in June. He allowed the "reformist" Masoud Pezeshkian to run for office after he called for his country to change its anti-West and anti-American policies – in two rounds of votes, and to beat the opposing candidate backed by the IRGC. The people's voice was heard and was counted in the ballot box.
Khamenei who is 85-year-old knows he is not long for this life. Raisi considered himself a replacement of the aging leader, based on his close ties with the guards and his ambitions to become the ultimate religious authority. After Raisi was no longer an option, Khamenei can choose his successor himself.
The story does not end there. Just one day after Pezeshkian took office, someone planted explosives inside the IRGC guest house in Tehran, where Iran's political leader Ismail Haniyeh was a guest. The blast killed Haniyeh on the spot.
A manhunt ensued inside the IRGC while the new president fought their political benefactors in parliament to establish his government.
The internal fighting has delayed Iran's revenge on Israel. Reports – some leaked and some intentional – tell of a ferocious dispute between those in the IRGC who want to bomb Tel Aviv and Pezeshkian and his allies who insist a war against Israel would go against Iran's national interest. That view is shared by 75% of the population who wonder what good could come from a devastating war that would further erode Iran's already failing economy, and all because Iranians killed a Palestinian terrorist who was living in Qatar.
Pezeshkian does not fit the Western definition of a reformer. Many of his views on social matters are backward and repulsive, which explains how he came to power, with the quiet help of Khamenei. But for now, he is fighting hard to bring a historic change of priorities to Iran's government, putting the economy first and leaving the vision of a nuclear Islamic empire, for a later date, if at all.