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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>1- In Iran after the Revolution, they formed a
Republic and called it Islamic Republic. When <STRONG>Kho - mei - ni</STRONG>
was alive, he had the last word on all the important decisions. They made him
the supreme leader. After his death, there was a vacuum. The second person in
line was Montazeri who was against Capitalists and very liberal compare to
others. He got in a political fight with Khomeini and was under the house arrest
but has his own followers. So Khomeini before his death made <STRONG>Kha - mene
- i</STRONG> his successor. But in the eyes of the average people nobody
could replace Khomeini. They had to create this system of governing to
manage the faction fights between themselves. To answer your question, President
has some roles, but when it comes to the hard decisions (like nuclear program
and how to deal with the US), Khamenei the current supreme leader would announce
the final decision. But they have their own internal fights and sometimes it
leaks to the press (like over here). In short, yes the supreme leader has the
upper hand, and other government figures fight to push their own agenda. In
any case it is not black and white and it is true the President is not able to
go against the supreme leader.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=3><FONT size=2>2-</FONT><STRONG>
AYAT - OL - Lah</STRONG></FONT> is the highest position in shia sect. There are
not many Ayatollah in Iran. Khomeini was Ayatollah. Khamenei is Ayatollah. Ayat
means "sign" and as you know Allah means God. So Ayatollah means something like
the Sign of God!</FONT></FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>In Farsi when you add the letter "i" to a name it makes it
a family name. Like Massoud (happy) when you add "i" at the end "Massoudi"
becomes a Last name. Khomein is a name of a small city and Ayatollah
Khomeini came from that city.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>FYI: <STRONG>Ah - madi - ne - jad</STRONG> the current
President is the 6th President after the 1979 Iranian Revolution. He was elected
by the poor working people. After two years, his support is not as strong
as before since he has not delivered his promises (more jobs, lower
cost of housing or food, etc.) The last President was Khatami who was
elected by the votes of the majority of women and youth. He was a liberal
clergyman! </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><SPAN class=515265601-27092007>From HPN's resident
Iranian!</SPAN></FONT></DIV></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>