Word: khameini
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...pitched battles against riot police in Tehran Tuesday despite dire warnings against demonstrating, Iran?s leaders ? who themselves made a revolution 20 years ago ? may be feeling history catching up with them. The student protesters are targeting the country?s hard-line religious leadership under Ayatollah Ali Khameini, the supreme ruler who also controls the security forces. Although many of the demonstrators are carrying portraits of President Mohamed Khatami, whose efforts at reform and democratization are being blocked by the hard-liners, they won?t necessarily abide by his call for calm to avoid provoking a crackdown by conservatives...
...they escalated after an attack by police and hard-line militants on Thursday night killed one student and injured four. The latest clashes come amid a fierce battle for Iran?s future that pits reformers led by President Mohamed Khatami against Iran's conservative clergy, led by Ayatollah Ali Khameini, which retains ultimate power over the country's government and electoral system. President Khatami, who was elected in 1997 in a landslide denunciation by voters of the conservative clergy, supports the demonstrators but has urged them to avoid provocation. And with good reason: Thursday?s attack may signal the willingness...