THE current edition of Weekly Worker – seemingly the least popular but yet most widely-read publication on the British far left – includes a 2,000 word review of two recent books on Iran, penned by yours truly.

The works in question are Ervand Abrahamian’s ‘A history of Modern Iran’ (Cambridge University Press, 2008, pp224, £14.99), and Anoushiravan Ehteshami and Mahjoob Zweiri’s ‘Iran and the Rise of its Neoconservatives’ (IB Tauris, 2007, pp215, £20).

As well as assessing the content of the volumes named above, I also discuss some of the characterisations of Iran advanced by British leftwing groups. Alex Callinicos of the Socialist Workers’ Party has reportedly concluded that the Tehran regime is somehow Thermidorean, while the Alliance for Workers’ Liberty considers it to exemplify clerical-fascism.

I’m not convinced that either position helps us understand bourgeois theocracy sui generis; read why here. Feedback in the comments box, please.