Word: ayatullah
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...Ayatullah's Tactical Shift, June...
...Iranian state TV reports that Supreme Leader Ayatullah Ali Khamenei has ordered the Guardian Council, an unelected clerical body that oversees elections in the Islamic Republic, to investigate complaints from opposition candidates of electoral fraud. At the same time, the authorities banned opposition rallies, although that didn't stop some 200,000 from gathering in Tehran to support opposition candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi. Khamenei's decision may be a smart tactical retreat from his premature endorsement of the results on Friday - the Electoral Commission is supposed to wait three days and hear complaints over any irregularities before presenting the results...
...pictures of the lasting influence of Ayatullah Khameini...
...worst things we could do at this point would be to declare Iran's election fraudulent, refuse to talk to the regime and pile on more sanctions. Hostility will only strengthen Ahmadinejad and encourage the hard-liners and secret police. We should never forget that Iran's spiritual leader, Ayatullah Khameinei, along with Ahmadinejad, have the full, if undeclared, backing of both the Revolutionary Guards and the army, and they are not afraid to use those resources to back up their mandate...
...from long experience that their neighbor - and historic enemy - is ruled not by its politicians but by its clergy. Although President Ahmadinejad gets plenty of press, even Iraqis with no interest in politics will tell you that the man who really matters in Tehran is Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatullah Ali Khamenei. So the allegation that the election was rigged for Ahmadinejad doesn't raise too many eyebrows in Baghdad. "It was never about who the Iranian people want. It was always about who Khamenei wants," says a senior Iraqi official who asked not to be named. "Khamenei chose Ahmadinejad...