Word: leader
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...legend that many Iranians hold as truth, Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini on his deathbed joined the hands of his chief disciples, Ali Khamenei - who would become Supreme Leader - and Ali Akbar Rafsanjani - the cleric who is now Khamenei's most powerful rival - and warned that if the two should ever be divided, the Islamic Republic would fall. Since the controversial presidential election in June, the growing rift between the two men has been playing out not only on the streets but also, just as important, behind closed doors in a game of chess that their adherents follow but the moves...
...story, which appeared on an opposition website, alleged that Rafsanjani and the Supreme Leader have had a climactic parting of ways, a final end to the pretense of keeping their deathbed promise to Imam Khomeini. The incident reportedly involves the wife of Alireza Beheshti, a close aide of Mir-Hossein Mousavi, the presidential candidate who was declared the loser in June to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Beheshti has the status of a living martyr for the opposition and is enduring his second period of detention since the election (he has survived a heart attack in prison). He is also...
...must be without their parents during the 10 Days of Dawn [a reference to the celebration of the revolution's anniversary] and must live underground in fear of the security forces," said Rafsanjani, according to the story, presumably before turning on his heels and storming out of the Supreme Leader's presence with a swish of his cleric's robes. (See "Iran's Hard-Liners: How to Fight Spontaneous Combustion...
...Republic. Khomeini visited Beheshti's family after making an early departure from a ceremony commemorating his grandfather, attended by both Khamenei and Ahmadinejad. Khomeini left before the President began his speech. On the day after the event, newspapers aligned with the conservatives printed front-page photographs showing the Supreme Leader kneeling beside Khomeini's tomb alone, while newspapers associated with the reformists pictured Khamenei standing alongside an expressionless Hassan Khomeini. Meanwhile, opposition websites, unconcerned by Iran's press censors, published pictures of Khomeini's grandson embracing Beheshti's two young daughters...
...anniversary, the Supreme Leader has given a green light to pro-government forces, like the Basij paramilitaries, to engage in the toughest possible action against protesters who may try to disrupt or hijack Thursday's official rallies. "Those who stand against the greatness of the Iranian nation are not of the people," Khamenei said on Monday in words reminiscent of his first call for a crackdown on protests at Friday prayers the week after the June election. "They have nothing to do with the masses...