Word: ayatullah
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...Founded in Iran in the 1960s on an ideological platform merging Marxism and Islamism, the MEK worked alongside followers of Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini to overthrow the shah in the 1979 Islamic revolution, and assisted in the ensuing U.S. embassy hostage crisis. But they clashed with Khomeini in the years that followed, leading to the killing, imprisonment and exile of thousands of the group's members. In 1986 the MEK set up a base at Camp Ashraf, located in Iraq's eastern Diyala province, and began receiving funding and protection from Saddam to launch attacks over the border into Iran...
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was absent from the ceremony. On Monday he was scheduled to return from a two-day visit to the U.S.'s adversary, Iran, where he met with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Ayatullah Khamenei. According to Iranian state news agency IRNA, Khamenei told al-Maliki on Sunday that the U.S. presence in Iraq was the root cause of terrorism, and that the U.S. seeks to establish a permanent base there to dominate the region. He urged further political and economic cooperation with Iran...
...times and the possibility of an improved, respectful relationship with the U.S. based on dialogue - and the prospect of U.S. withdrawal from Iraq - sets the scene for an Ahmadinejad defeat. Of course, Iran's President does not make national-security decisions; that's the prerogative of the Supreme Leader, Ayatullah Ali Khamenei. But a change in presidential style in Tehran paralleling the stylistic change in Washington may combine to reduce the risk of escalation and confrontation...
...present personalities from the conservatives like Qalibaf as reformists," Abtahi says, pointing out that Qalibaf played a prominent role in quelling pro-democracy dissent during Khatami's presidency. And while perhaps not the unreconstructed revolutionary that Iran's hard-liners so admire, Qalibaf is unabashedly loyal to Supreme Leader Ayatullah Ali Khamenei, Iran's ultimate authoritarian decision maker...
...Rajavi left by flying to Iraq, which has been at war with Iran for six years. The diplomatic boot was part of the French government's attempt to improve relations with Iran in hopes of winning freedom for nine French hostages in Lebanon. The French expect that Iran's Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini, who spent four months of political exile in France in 1978-79, can wield influence over Lebanese Muslim extremists holding the nine. Earlier, the French government hinted that as part of a deal to free the hostages, it would be willing to negotiate the repayment...