Word: khamenei
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...wheels coming off the Iranian regime bus? On July 26, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad fired the country's Intelligence Minister, Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie, a man who customarily reported directly to the Supreme Leader, Ayatullah Ali Khamenei, rather than to the President. The move came a day after Khamenei had forced Ahmadinejad to drop Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie as his candidate for Vice President. But in an act of flagrant defiance of Khamenei, Ahmadinejad appointed Mashaie as his chief of staff. All this suggests that a political brawl is raging within the corridors of power, the likes of which the world...
...prayer mats for overflow crowds. Men and women prayed together, a regime taboo. When Rafsanjani referred to detainees, the crowd interrupted by roaring, "Political prisoners must be freed!" Calling for support of Iran's Supreme Leader, who backed the crackdown, another prayer official intoned, "We are all your soldiers, Khamenei! We await your orders!" But supporters of defeated presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi shouted back, "We are your soldiers, Mousavi! We await your orders!" And when told to shout "Down with America!" the crowd instead chanted "Down with Russia!" - whose leaders had congratulated President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on his re-election...
...need unity," said former Iranian President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani during Friday prayers at Tehran University on July 17. It was a crucial sermon and, in the manner of many things Persian, purposefully and delicately opaque. Some thought Rafsanjani's speech was a direct threat to the Ahmadi-Khamenei regime. He demanded the release of political prisoners, an end to violence against protesters, the restoration of Iran's (intermittently) free press. Others thought Rafsanjani, speaking with the approval of the Supreme Leader, was trying to build a bridge between the opposition and the regime. For me, it brought back memories...
...proportionally larger numbers than past protests. Although officially under the supervision of the Revolutionary Guards, they have in the past month become a fearsome force in quashing dissent. The reported killings of dozens of protesters last month has sufficiently intimidated many would-be protesters, as has Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's continued threats of a "brutal" response to any public demonstrations. On July 20, he declared that "anybody who drives the society toward insecurity and disorder is a hated person in the view of the Iranian nation, whoever he is." (See the top 10 protest symbols...
...Tehran Clerics Slam Election Results A group of influential clerics denounced last month's disputed election as "illegitimate," in perhaps the clearest sign of deepening fault lines in the Iranian theocracy. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's victory, which triggered massive protests, has been backed by Supreme Leader Ayatullah Ali Khamenei...