I’m guessing this is going to be complicated, right?
On the contrary, it’s really rather simple. The real ruler of Iran is called Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei.

You mean Ayatollah Khomeini, don’t you?
No, I mean Khamenei. Khomeini is the other (dead) guy.

Why so many ayatollahs?
Because these big boys – not MPs, or presidents, or judges – run the show in Iran. “Ayatollah” is a title granted to a handful of clerics from the Shia sect of Islam who have spent their lives becoming experts in jurisprudence, philosophy, ethics and theology.

So is Khamenei a Persian Rowan Williams?
Only if Williams had near-limitless powers over the UK’s political and judicial systems . . . and the Archbishop of Canterbury had supplanted the Queen as head of state. Khamenei is Supreme Leader of his nation; Williams has difficulty these days being supreme leader of his own Anglican Church. The two men do, however, share a fondness for cuddly long beards.

“Supreme Leader”? Even Peter Mandelson doesn’t have a title like that yet.
Supreme Leader might be a bit of an understatement, given that Iran’s theocratic constitution guarantees
him the right to assume “supreme command of the armed forces”, make declarations “of war and peace”, sign “the decree formalising the election of the president”, dismiss the president “with due regard for the interests of the country”, as well as appoint (and dismiss) the heads of the national radio and television networks, the commanders of the armed forces, the chiefs of the judiciary, and six of the 12 jurists on the Council of Guardians – the powerful body that decides which bills become law and who can run for president or parliament. (Incidentally, of the 475 registered presidential hopefuls this year, only four candidates were finally approved by the Council.)

I hear he’s a tad thin-skinned?
Insulting the leader is indeed a crime in Iran, and Khamenei hasn’t shirked in seeing that this law is enforced against politicians and journalists. Even close family members are not exempt: his reformist younger brother Hadi Khamenei was once brutally beaten by militiamen loyal to the ayatollah after giving a lecture criticising the powers of the Supreme Leader. Critics beware!

 

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