Iran is a country with a strong bureaucracy and diplomatic heritage. Direct intervention by the US or Israel could strengthen the reformist wing within the country; however, these reformists are not actors from outside the system. The events following the 2009 Ahmadinejad elections are a good example of this. Mir-Hossein Mousavi was presented in the Western media as a liberal figure, but he was a name from within the system who had served as prime minister during the Khomeini era.