Word: khameini
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Hassan Rohani is representative of the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameini, on the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) and Iran's former top nuclear negotiator
...Even the enrichment announcement itself bears some scrutiny. Ahmadinejad was actually upstaged by his most detested domestic political rival, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani - the former president who, despite the backing of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khameini, lost his bid for a third term against Ahmadinejad. Rafsanjani broke news of the enrichment to an Iranian radio station several hours before Ahmadinejad, spoiling the surprise in an effort to deny Ahmadinejad the credit for the politically popular achievement...
...Bush administration consistently points out, Iran is ultimately run by unelected, clerical leaders, and Ahmadinejad is not one of them. President Bush's opposite number in Iraq is really the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameini. Khameini makes the final decision on all matters of security and foreign policy - including and especially the nuclear issue - although he typically abides by the consensus of the National Security Council. The Council is led by Ali Larijani, appointed by and answerable to the Supreme Leader, and a man who also ran for president against Ahmadinejad...
...From the moment he came to power in a surprising election victory last June over Ayatollah Khameini's preferred candidate, Ahmedinajad has been assailed from two sides: the Old Guard of clerics who backed the candidacy of former President Ali Akbar Rafsanjani and mistrust Ahmedinajad as a young upstart; and the Reformers who had rallied around his predecessor, Muhammad Khatami, and don't like his revivalist radicalism...
...With the reformists sidelined, the more important political cleavage now is between hardliners and pragmatists within conservative ranks. Khameini is said to disapprove of the policies of leading pragmatist candidate Hashemi Rafsanjani, the former speaker of parliament who might have drawn "lesser-evil" backing from reformist voters if they lacked a candidate of their own. Allowing the reformists to run potentially splits Rafsanjani's vote, improving the chances of hard-liners. Even if the reformers win, the Khatami years have proven that the clerical bodies controlled by the conservatives trump the power of the presidency. The Supreme Leader is also...