Ali Khamenei: the hardliner

January 6, 1998
Web posted at: 5:24 p.m. EST (2224 GMT)

(CNN) -- Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was elected successor to the late Ayatollah Khomeini, the leader of the country's Islamic revolution, in 1989. Khamenei is widely considered a religious hardliner and wields significant political and religious power in modern-day Iran.

Under the country's constitution, Khamenei can dismiss the president, and Khamenei is said to preside over what effectively amounts to a parallel government, made up of conservative-minded advisers, who shadow President Khatami's ministers.

Observers say that hardliner Khamenei and the reform-minded president are involved in a power struggle that could have significant consequences for the social and political development of the country.

"Khatami won only the presidential election, that's all," commented Ebrahim Yazdi, a liberal opposition leader, last month. "The extreme right lost the election but they control all the powers: parliament, radio and television, the security forces, the supreme leader's institutions, the Friday prayers preachers."

Khamenei also enjoys the support of what, in western lingo, could be described as "big business." These are economically very strong revolutionary foundations that pay no taxes and answer directly to Khamenei.

This power on the domestic front is paralleled by Khamenei's influence in foreign policies. Khamenei has the last word on foreign policy, said Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati during May's presidential election campaign.

Khamenei also said at the time that the mere mention of improving ties with the United States -- the very strategy that Khatami appears to be following now -- would be political suicide.

While Khamenei enjoys the support of powerful elites in the country, President Khatami has the support of the masses who elected him -- particularly young voters, many of whom were born after the Islamic revolution and never experienced life under the U.S.-backed Shah.

Bit hardliners such as Khamenei are not expected to let power simply slip from their hands, and many Iranians are said to fear a hardline backlash against the moderate liberalization evident under the new president.

More newspapers and magazines have been authorized since Khatami's election, and there is now a broader spectrum of opinion on offer. Ministers are talking of allowing international investment in the onshore oil and gas industry -- a topic which had long been taboo.

But while Khamenei is said to be opposed to much of this liberalization, some analysts believe that he is also a man who may be politically savvy enough to read the signs of the times, which clearly indicate that much of the Iranian population is fed up with rising prices and high unemployment.

Khamenei may therefore realize, some say, that it is in his and the influential clergy's interest to allow a controlled, gradual economic and political liberalization, rather than risk a social explosion.

Khamenei may also realize that he himself is not an uncontroversial figure, and clearly has some political enemies. Khamenei lacks Khomeini's charisma and learning, and his legitimacy has been challenged both by veteran Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, who was sacked as Khomeini's anointed successor after he criticized human rights abuses, and by dissident philosopher Abdolkarim Soroush, who advocates separating mosque and state.

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