Word: khomeini
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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...
...rumored incident aside, Beheshti and his family do play a part in more confirmable developments in Iran's drama. Last week, the pro-government press ignored a visit to Beheshti's home by Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of the founder of the Islamic 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...
...after all, a battle over the late Ayatullah Khomeini's legacy. His dynastic heir has clearly taken the side of the opposition. Indeed, Hassan Khomeini aroused the ire of pro-government members of parliament after complaining that the state media, the IRIB, had broadcast speeches with selective editing to create a misleading impression of his grandfather's beliefs. The MPs, in a joint statement, retorted, "Imam Khomeini does not belong to a specific 'house...
Meanwhile, in his latest statements, the opposition leader Mousavi drew a parallel between his enemies and the powers that opposed the Ayatullah Khomeini, saying that 30 years after the Islamic revolution overthrew the autocratic Shah, the "roots of despotism" remained. "In the first years of the revolution, people were convinced that the revolution had completely destroyed all the structures through which despotism and dictatorships could be reborn," Mousavi said, "and I was one of the people who believed this. But today, I do not believe this anymore." The contending forces may clash again on Thursday. Khomeini no longer...