Who's Who in Iran's Power Struggle

Ayatollah Ali Khameini and the Conservative Clergy
Ayatollah Ali Khameini was appointed as Iran's Supreme Leader in June 1989, following the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. He is the absolute authority in Tehran and is answerable to nobody — in fact, the pro-democracy students demonstrating all over Iran are breaking the law simply by criticizing Khameini. He is an arch-conservative dedicated to keeping political power in the hands of the politicized clergy. Khameini lacks the charisma of his predecessor, however, and received a rude awakening in 1997 when 69 percent of the electorate rejected his nominee for president, parliamentary speaker Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri, and opted instead for reformist Mohammed Khatami. Since then, Khameini has led conservatives in a fierce — and often violent — struggle to contain and roll back reforms authored by Khatami. Although his constitutional powers are immense, his political support base is narrow. His conservative edicts have alienated not only the technocrats who run the government and the restive middle class, but also many of the country's clergy and theologians, who are disinclined to accept Khameini's claim to supreme authority on purely religious matters.

President Mohammed Khatami and the Government Reformers
Moderate reformist Khatami shocked Iran's conservative religious leaders — and the international community — by winning a landslide victory in the 1997 presidential election. A veteran of Ayatollah Khomeini's exiled opposition who lived briefly in Germany, Khatami had previously served as culture minister. He vowed to promote the rule of law, democratization and greater openness, seeking to restore the balance between Islamic and civil democratic rule that had been the original stated aim of the 1979 revolution. He also set out to normalize Iran's relations with the West and curb rogue-state behavior. Despite Khatami's popularity, sustained attacks by conservative opponents have put him on the defensive. The imprisonment of his closest aide and campaign manager, Gholamhossein Karbaschi, by the Khameini-controlled judiciary was a major blow, signaling the ability of the conservatives to keep the reformists off balance. The student protest movement puts Khatami in a bind: The threat of chaos and a conservative backlash may tempt him to distance himself from the demonstrators, but failure to support what many Iranians view as a legitimate outburst against the domination by the conservatives may dampen enthusiasm for his reform project.

Pro-Democracy Students
There are more than 1 million college students in Iran organized into several national unions, and they make up probably the most organized and coherent constituencies for democracy in Iran. Reprising the role they played in the 1979 revolution, students have been in the vanguard of activist support for President Khatami and have rallied to his defense when he's been under attack by conservatives. Where 1979's students forced the pace of Islamic revolution, particularly when they seized hostages at the American embassy, today's students are demanding an end to the domination of the mullahs. By adapting some of the revolutionary slogans of 1979, they are also signaling they don't share President Khatami's patience with the conservative-dominated political system. The students are the children of Iran's elite, and by clamping down too hard the authorities risk alienating the constituency that keeps the country running.

Islamic Militant Organizations
Besides their control of the security forces, the conservatives are also able to enlist the support of paramilitary thugs in organizations such as Ansare Hizbollah to strong-arm and intimidate democracy activists and supporters of President Khatami. Although their members have carried out a number of assassinations and beatings of prominent moderates, those responsible have never been apprehended. The pro-democracy students are demanding that these groups be brought under control and that those responsible for acts of violence be arrested. Even if members of the security forces may balk at being ordered to beat up or kill protesting students, the "Hizbollahis," as the militants are known, remaining willing shock troops of the ruling mullahs.