Word: ayatullah
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...expected to speak, the grounds were cordoned off with a chain-link fence. Still, anyone could enter the area as long as they submitted to a security check. At a speech witnessed by TIME, there was only one apparent incident of protest - a large sign showing an image of Ayatullah Khomeini with an X on his face, which was quickly confiscated by guards. (See how the opposition tried to prepare for the anniversary...
...President did not bring up the June 2009 election, which is still disputed by the opposition - the previous speaker had already done so for him. Opposition websites reported chants of "Death to the dictator" during the speech, but TIME heard no such interruption. (See the rumored rift between Ayatullah Khomeini's chief disciples...
Meanwhile, in his latest statements, the opposition leader Mousavi drew a parallel between his enemies and the powers that opposed the Ayatullah Khomeini, saying that 30 years after the Islamic revolution overthrew the autocratic Shah, the "roots of despotism" remained. "In the first years of the revolution, people were convinced that the revolution had completely destroyed all the structures through which despotism and dictatorships could be reborn," Mousavi said, "and I was one of the people who believed this. But today, I do not believe this anymore." The contending forces may clash again on Thursday. Khomeini no longer...
...other people accused of being opposition supporters are on death row. "We are closely watching the activities of the sedition movement," Tehran's police chief, Ismail Ahmadi-Moghaddam, said on Wednesday. "If anyone wants to disrupt this glorious ceremony, they will be confronted." (See pictures of the legacy of Ayatullah Khomeini...
...Guard Corps, the élite military branch that controls much of the economy, which the opposition accuses of orchestrating the post-election crackdown. But the Iranian government has in the past effectively used American and Western pressure to delegitimize internal dissent, and it is doing so again. Supreme Leader Ayatullah Ali Khamenei, who in the past has accused demonstrators of being agents of foreign intelligence services, said on Monday that the celebration for the anniversary of the revolution would be a "punch in the mouth" to the arrogance of foreign powers. Hopefully, the dispute between Iran and American will...