BBC NEWS | Middle East | Analysis: Iran crisis set to rage on: Via BBC NEWS | Middle East.

Three weeks after Iran was shaken by its most serious unrest since the 1979 revolution, the dust seems to have settled.

Banned and broken up by force, the largely peaceful, massive protest demonstrations have fizzled out.

The Guardian Council - the powerful, appointed watchdog body - has formally endorsed the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose unexpectedly large declared margin of victory triggered the protests.

On the face of it, Tehran and other Iranian cities now look much as they did before the 12 June elections.

So does that mean everything is back to normal, and nothing has changed?

That seems unlikely.

Opposition defiant

The disturbances, and the crisis they expressed, have left much unsettled business, and many unanswered questions.

For one thing, there is an unresolved political rift that is a standing challenge to the ascendant hardliners and the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Two of the three defeated candidates, Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, have kept up their outspoken defiance, repeating their demand for fresh elections and rejecting the legitimacy of any government headed by Mr Ahmadinejad.

They are openly supported by the two-term former President, Mohammad Khatami, whose reformist platform won him landslide victories in 1997 and 2001.

While they and their millions of supporters may be powerless to confront the system's instruments of enforcement, their declarations raise issues that go to the heart of the Islamic Republic, its identity and values, and the legitimacy of those now running it.

These men are not outsiders. With justice, they call themselves and their associates - many of whom have been arrested - "sons of the revolution".

Read Original Article:(Via BBC NEWS | Middle East.)