Who Calls the Shots in Iran?

July 9 -- — Stretching from the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf and bordering six nations, Iran is a strategically located nation that made history in 1979 when an Islamic revolution brought about the overthrow of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

Under the leadership of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a unique modern Islamic republic was declared, where religious clerics wielded ultimate political power in the Shiite Muslim-dominated nation.

But with a highly educated populace and a characteristically Shiite tradition of dissent, Iran has been wracked by political discord between the supporters of hardline clerics and reformists seeking to reduce their power.

The struggle between the reformists and conservatives grabbed the attention of the world last month, when university students in the capital city gathered near the Tehran University dormitories in northern Tehran to protest a government plan to privatize the education system.

But the demonstrations against privatization quickly turned into protests against the hardline Islamic clerics, putting the international media focus once again on Iran's complex political system that seeks to combine elements of a modern Islamic theocracy with democracy.

Here are the major players in Iran's political stage.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: As Supreme Spiritual Leader who took over the position from Khomeini after his death in 1989, Khamenei heads the all-powerful Council of Guardians that enjoys the power to veto bills passed by the Iranian parliament as well as the results of local and national elections. Khamenei also controls the judiciary and the military. But Khamenei is also reviled by moderates and younger Iranians who form the bulk of the country's 60 million-strong population.

President Mohammad Khatami: Elected in 1997 in a landslide victory that was a major setback for the conservative clerics, Khatami came to represent the hopes for reform among the majority of Iranians. But their hopes were crushed in the next few years as Khatami proved unable to stand up to the conservatives. The dissatisfaction reached a head in 1999, when students took to the streets in violent demonstrations against the conservative crackdown on a vibrant press that Khatami's election had ushered in. Nevertheless, the soft-spoken philosopher-leader was reelected in 2001 after winning just under 77 percent of the vote. Khatami is known to favor a resumption of relations with the United States, but Iran's inclusion in the U.S. axis of evil has made it a difficult task.