Word: ayatullah
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...schizoid regime in Iran--technically led by President Mohammed Khatami, whose attempts at reform have been stymied by supreme religious leader Ayatullah Ali Khamenei--may be able to quell this rebellion, as it did a similar movement in 1999, aided by progovernment civilian militias. "Our leader has ordered us to protect the revolution," said Assad, a corpulent militia member, as he attempted to stop cars heading to the protests Friday. Assad characterizes the students as "prostitutes and gays...
...tumult in Tehran's streets suggests that the country's youth will not be quieted for long. More than 60% of Iran's 70 million people are under the age of 30. The oldest were just starting school when the Shah was toppled by Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1979. Their fathers and uncles were sacrificed to Iraqi missiles and mines in the eight-year Iran-Iraq war, which claimed more than 300,000 Iranian lives. They have inherited bitter memories and unrelenting strictures, and now the boys want girlfriends with whom they can hold hands and socialize freely...
...well as its alleged nuclear ambitions, has many Iranians wondering, After Iraq, are we next? At a Tehran restaurant, a waiter made sure nobody was listening and then asked, with both fear and hope, "Are the Americans going to help rid us of the mullahs?" Advisers to Supreme Leader Ayatullah Ali Khamenei say he is genuinely worried about a possible U.S. attack. As a result, they say, he has ordered his fellow ayatullahs to refrain from using their influence with Iraqi Shi'ites to whip up unrest against U.S. troops. Iran's Foreign Minister last week denied charges that...
...worst-case scenario of the past week--that Shi'ite militants will form an Islamic republic with Iranian support--is unlikely. Iraq has a significant secular middle class. The leading Iraqi ayatullah, Ali al-Sestani, believes in the separation of church and state. The Iraqi and Iranian Shi'ites have a history of mutual disdain and bloodshed. And even Iran's Foreign Minister, Kamal Kharrazi, said last week that Iraq's ethnic and religious diversity makes it an improbable candidate for an Islamic republic...
...worst-case scenario of the past week - that Shi'ite militants will form an Islamic republic with Iranian support - is unlikely. Iraq has a significant secular middle class. The leading Iraqi ayatullah, Ali al-Sestani, believes in the separation of church and state. The Iraqi and Iranian Shi'ites have a history of mutual disdain and bloodshed. And even Iran's Foreign Minister, Kamal Kharrazi, said last week that Iraq's ethnic and religious diversity makes it an improbable candidate for an Islamic republic...