Word: beheshti
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...first Iranian President Abolhassan Banisadr promised that the bodies would quickly be returned to the U.S. As middleman he designated Ilarion Capucci, a Greek Melchite Catholic archbishop and longtime ally of the Palestine Liberation Organization. Then the Ayatullah Seyyed Mohammed Beheshti, president of the National Supreme Court and a leading political rival of Banisadr's, stepped in and insisted that only the Revolutionary Council or the Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini could release the bodies. Beheshti ordered them transferred to the Tehran morgue, which falls under his jurisdiction. The militants who were guarding the U.S. embassy announced that an undisclosed number...
...five hours with his opponents on the Revolutionary Council, maintaining that he had received what amounted to a "formal and public" pledge from Carter and that the Council should now take control of the hostages. But Banisadr's clerical opponents, led by Council Secretary Seyyed Ayatullah Mohammed Beheshti, disagreed and carried the vote. After the session, Ghotbzadeh said that the Council wants "more information on the precise position of the United States...
Born in Isfahan, the son of a clergyman, Beheshti began his political career in 1965, when three of Iran's ranking ayatullahs nominated him as spiritual leader of a mosque for Iranian immigrants in Hamburg, West Germany. His five years there aroused much criticism from dissident Iranian students, who accused Beheshti of ignoring the Shah's repression and concentrating on purely religious issues. Beheshti insisted that he was writing a book on Islamic government that would clarify his political views, but such a work has yet to see print. While in Hamburg, he would not allow any written...
...Beheshti returned to Iran in 1970, at a time when the Shah was trying to uproot all opposition to his regime. His associates at the time recall that Beheshti remained studiously noncommittal. "Beheshti would never side with anyone " says one clerical colleague. "The man was intelligent, capable, knowledgeable and charismatic, but his politics were cynical." Two years ago, with opposition to the Shah growing, Beheshti finally joined the forces led by the Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini, which were calling for an end to the monarchy. Yet even then Beheshti attempted to hedge his bets. During the revolution, he tried to ensure...
...head of the Islamic Republic Party, Beheshti was primarily responsible for forcing the resignation of Iran's first postrevolution Prime Minister, Mehdi Bazargan-who has neither forgiven nor forgotten. Beheshti endorsed the militants takeover of the U.S. embassy, and supports their refusal to turn the hostages over to the government. Once again, many Iranians believe, Beheshti is motivated less by ideology than by expediency and could well abandon the students if their cause seems lost. Observers note that Beheshti has never allowed the charter of his party to be published. Says one critic: "He does not want to commit...