Who Really Rules Iran?

The public protests over Iran's disputed presidential election have largely been crushed. But the political dispute is not over. While police and militia crackdowns have ended demonstrations by most Iranian citizens, western media now report that there are signs of a behind-the-scenes power struggle among Iran's ruling elite.

We'll fill you in on what might be happening before the end of today's Knowledge News. But first, we need to explain how Iran's convoluted power structure actually works. Because hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad--whether legitimately reelected or not--is clearly not the real power in Iran. The supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is. And even he, apparently, has to answer to someone.

The President Answers to the Supreme Leader

Since its revolution, Iran has operated under a dual power structure in which Muslim clerics--or institutions they dominate--oversee republican institutions, including the presidency and parliament. Within the system, Iran's elected leaders aren't its most powerful figures. Iranians elect their president, for example, but they don't elect their "supreme leader"--currently Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

The president runs the country on a day-to-day basis, but the supreme leader is a lifetime appointee who sets the direction of national policy. He is also an important religious figure. (In fact, one knock on Supreme Leader Khamenei is that, unlike his predecessor, he is not an "object of emulation" within the Shi'ite hierarchy--so, theologically, a few other ayatollahs actually outrank him.)

The supreme leader is even the commander-in-chief of Iran's armed forces, and the only person who can declare war. He appoints the commanders of the army, the national police, and the revolutionary guards--not to mention the chief of state radio and television. He also appoints the head of the judiciary and half the members of the "Council of Guardians."

The Parliament Answers to the Council of Guardians

Iranians elect representatives to their parliament, the Majlis, but they don't elect the Council of Guardians, a 12-member panel that must approve every piece of legislation the Majlis proposes. The supreme leader appoints six of the council's members (specialists in Islamic law, like the leader himself). The Majlis appoints the other six, but it has to choose from 12 lawyers nominated by the head of the judiciary--who is, you remember, appointed by the supreme leader.

Basically, the council decides whether legislation the Majlis proposes fits with Islamic law and the Iranian constitution. Legislation found unfit goes back to the Majlis or gets rejected out of hand. Parliament can complain, but disputes between the Majlis and the Council of Guardians are mediated by another council: the Expediency Council, members of which--you guessed it--the supreme leader appoints.

The Council of Guardians also gets to decide who is, and who isn't, fit to run for political office in Iran. Many are deemed unfit. Before Majlis elections in 2004 and 2008, the Council of Guardians disqualified thousands of candidates. According to the council, they were insufficiently dedicated to Islam. According to the council's critics, many were simply reformers whose political views the conservative council didn't like.

The Supreme Leader Answers to the Assembly of Experts

Apparently, though, even the supreme leader is answerable to someone. He's appointed, supervised, and can even be dismissed by Iran's Assembly of Experts, a council of 86 Islamic scholars elected by the public to eight-year terms (though, once again, the Council of Guardians gets to decide who is fit, and who isn't, to run for this office).

The Assembly of Experts can dismiss the supreme leader if he "becomes incapable of fulfilling his constitutional duties, or loses one of the qualifications mentioned in the Constitution, or it becomes known that he did not possess some of the qualifications initially." What qualifications are those? "Islamic scholarship, justice, piety, right political and social perspicacity, prudence, courage, administrative facilities, and adequate capability for leadership."

Well, according to several western news reports, the chairman of Iran's Assembly of Experts, former president Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, is now lobbying fellow Assembly members to dismiss Supreme Leader Khamenei using these constitutional grounds. It's never happened before. But the politics of Iran are getting more complicated by the day.