protesters. The militiamen have been identified by their screams in Arabic. But none of these measures has been able to extinguish the fire of protest so far.

One, however, finds the current unrest in Iran would have little impact on its foreign policy course. Both Ahmadinejad and Mousavi are the products of the same 1979 Iranian revolution and the ideology behind that has since guided its foreign policy. Given this background, knowledgeable sources say, Tehran is likely to continue its pursuit of nuclear technology in defiance of the international community. In the past the latter imposed sanctions on the regime and even offered incentives to persuade Iran to halt its uranium enrichment programme. That did not work. The future would not be different.

The sources say Iran would continue to give sleepless moments to many Muslim states as well. Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia have always been opposed to Islamism of all hues whatever the quarter of the world. The Iranian brand of Islamism cannot be an exception to them. Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia have traditionally been skeptical of a growing Shia Iran. Pertinently, Cairo has been so critical of the growing potentials of Tehran that during the latter's eight-year old war with Baghdad, it chose to provide Iraq's strongman Saddam Hussein much needed manpower and Soviet weaponry to humiliate Iran. Most of the Lebanese, Iraqis and Palestinians, too, have never liked the interference of Iran in their affairs. According to an estimate, Iran today is giving $200 million to Hezbollah and $20 million - $30 million to Hamas annually. Tehran has also trained more than 3,000 Hezbollah operatives in Iran.

In contrast, the sources say, Iran's relations are likely to get warmer with some of the Latin and South American nations. During the last couple of years, Tehran's major allies in the region have been Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Bolivian President Evo Morales. In July 2007, Iran and Venezuela began construction on two joint petrochemical complexes, one in Iran and the other in Venezuela, at a combined cost of $1.4 billion. Later, in November 2007, Chavez and Ahmadinejad signed four memorandums of understanding aimed at creating a joint bank, a fund, an oil industry technical training programme and an industrial accord. Since 2007 Iran has provided Bolivia more than $1.1 billion in industrial cooperation funds.