In an apparent attempt to address political tensions that stubbornly refuse to go away, Tehran is allowing opposition-minded figures to participate in live televised discussions on the country’s postelection crisis…it has created a buzz among Iranians accustomed to seeing broadcasts that generally favor the views of President Mahmud Ahmadinejad.

The talk show “Ru be Farda,” or “Facing Tomorrow,” has for weeks pitted hard-liners and more moderate figures against each other. On January 14, for example, former parliamentarian Javad Ettaat condemned (below) the state’s deadly crackdown on opposition protests that took place on Ashura, the traditional Shi’ite religious festival that took place on December 27. Ettaat is a supporter of Mir Hossein Musavi, the leader of the opposition Green Movement who finished second to Ahmadinejad in an election his backers believe was stolen.

“Velvet revolutions occur in despotic countries. When you say that some want a ‘velvet revolution’ to take place in Iran, you have admitted that the Islamic republic does not have free elections. You admit it indirectly,” said Ettat.

The university professor added that “if there are free elections, if the process is democratic, if there is free space for competiveness, and if the fate is decided by the ballot boxes, then why should people want a revolution?”

Roozbeh Mirebrahimi, a New York-based journalist, tells RFE/RL that the debates expose internal rifts within the conservative camp itself, with moderate conservatives trying to find a way out of the postelection crisis.

“The moderate camp of the conservative faction was able to push forward this idea that opposition members should also be given a platform — but not those who are considered the ‘real’ opposition,” Mirebrahimi says.

Mirebrahimi says the state television invite to the debates people that are being considered by conservatives as moderate members of the Green movement.

“They chose people who are close to the principlists, or those who aren’t really opposition members.”

Mirebrahimi suggests that the move is an official acknowledgment that the country is indeed facing a crisis, something officials have refused to publicly admit.

The speaker of Iran’s parliament, Ali Larijani, said on January 19 that the holding of the debates should not be temporary and it should be turned into a strategy for Iran’s state broadcasting.

A student activist in the Iranian capital and member of the opposition Green Movement who spoke on condition of anonymity out of security fears tells RFE/RL that the debates might have been “eye-opening” for some government supporters, leading to it to be considered “dangerous” by hard-liners. Indeed, several conservative publications, including the daily “Resalat,” have criticized “Facing Tomorrow,” warning that the program could lead to street riots.  Looking at the big picture, the activist says the debates are too little and too late to satisfy the opposition, whose members are getting ready to resume their protests against the government on February 11, the anniversary of the 1979 revolution.

But for now, the show goes on, with former Revolutionary Guard head Mohsen Rezai and Ali Akbar Velayati, an adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, scheduled to spar this week over recent developments in the country.