It seems his best bet, then, is stoking conflict between the two so that he can sit back and wait by the well for the 12th imam while everyone else dukes it out. It’s a safe bet that almost any action by the US will turn some of the anti-government elements within the country against us, and throw them on the side of Khameini, Ahmadinejad, or both. All he has to do is get us to unwittingly hit a sensitive and sympathetic target, and a number of people will fall off the fence on their side.
A fair assessment. But the Khamenini faction saw that the hostage incident was causing them to fall on the anti-government side. One commentator put it that though the Brits lacked military punch, they could inflict severe economic pain onto an already hurting Iranian economy (source for a significant number of anti-government elements)do to the existing trade ties. The fact that Imanutjob acted on such an overt act suggests that he thinks he is losing the power struggle with Khameini. This act did give him initial leverage. That leverage did not stand the test of time and now the hostages are home. Will that desperation push the envelope further?