Iran’s Governmental System

The very structure of Iran’s government is built upon a foundation split by a power struggle between reformists and Islamic hard-liners. According to Iran’s constitution, its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who succeeded revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, holds the majority of the power. Elected leaders, including President Mohammad Khatami and members of parliament, hold much less authority.

Supervisory bodies — including the Expediency Council, Council of Guardians and the Assembly of Experts — also carry broad responsibilities to monitor the government and ensure the legislation follows both the constitution and Islamic law.

Iran’s constitution was written in 1979 and amended in 1989.

Elected
President
The president is the second highest-ranking government official in Iran. Elected by popular vote to a four-year term, they are limited to two consecutive terms. The president appoints and supervises the Cabinet, coordinates government decisions, and selects government policies to be considered by the parliament. Above the president is Iran’s supreme leader, who has control over the military, judiciary and any critical policy matter, both domestic and foreign. The president sets the country’s economic policies and has a nominal rule in other governmental matters including security and intelligence.

Council of Ministers
Although not elected directly, members of the Iranian Cabinet — also known as the Council of Ministers — are selected and supervised by the president and are also subject to confirmation by the parliament. The supreme leader holds influence in the decision-making of some of the most critical posts. In all, some eight vice presidents and 22 Cabinet ministers serve under the president.

Parliament
The parliament, known as the Majlis or National Assembly, has 290 members elected by popular vote to four-year terms. Each member represents a geographic constituency. The Council of Guardians has particular power over the Majlis through its authority to approve or disqualify potential parliamentary candidates.

The parliament introduces and passes laws that are ultimately subject to approval from the Council of Guardians. The Expediency Council mediates between the Council of Guardians and the parliament when they disagree on an issue.

The legislative body has the power to summon and impeach Cabinet-level ministers, including the president. It is also responsible for approving the country’s budget and ratifying international treaties. The parliament is often a key venue for confrontation between reformer politicians and their conservative counterparts.

Assembly of Experts
The Assembly of Experts is composed of some 86 clerics, whom the public elects for eight-year terms. The group usually meets for one week once or twice a year. As with Iran’s other publicly elected bodies, the Council of Guardians must approve all candidates for the Assembly of Experts.

The Assembly of Experts appoints the supreme leader and reconfirms him periodically. The group is responsible for monitoring his performance and removing him if necessary.

Appointed or Approved
Supreme Leader
The supreme leader is Iran’s top decision-maker, and has final say in all matters of state. According to Iran’s constitution, the supreme leader is responsible for supervising the “general policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran” and directs all the country’s foreign and domestic policy. The supreme leader also controls the military and Iran’s intelligence operations. He alone has the power to declare war. He also appoints leaders of the judiciary, the state media, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and six of the 12 members of the Council of Guardians, a powerful oversight committee.

The supreme leader is represented throughout the government through representatives that serve as field liaisons. These representatives have the authority to intervene in any matter on the supreme leader’s behalf.

Only two men have held the position of Iran’s supreme leader: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the father of the Iranian Revolution.

Council of Guardians
Composed of six religious members and six lawyers, the Council of Guardians is a highly influential part of the Iranian government. The supreme leader appoints the six theologians, and the judiciary nominates the six legal experts. The nominations are then subject to parliamentary approval.

The council has wide influence. The group vets all bills the legislature passes, to ensure they adhere to the constitution and Islamic principles. If the council rejects a bill, the lawmakers must revise it. At times the council has struck down up to 40 percent of laws parliament has passed. The council also approves all candidates for parliament, the presidency and the Assembly of Experts.

Armed Forces and National Security
The Iranian military includes two groups: the regular army and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The regular army defends the country and maintains order, while the Revolutionary Guard protects the Islamic revolution and its achievements. The supreme leader appoints all top military commanders, and they report directly to him.

The president heads the Supreme National Security Council, which includes the speaker of parliament, head of judiciary, chief of the combined general staff of the armed forces, key cabinet ministers and commanders of the regular military and Revolutionary Guard. The president guides the council in executing the supreme leader’s foreign policy directives.

Another element of Iran’s national security is the Ministry of Intelligence and Security, about which little is publicly known. According to law, the ministry is responsible “gathering, procurement, analysis, and classification of necessary information inside and outside the country.” A law also specifies that the head of the ministry be a cleric.

Judiciary
The supreme leader appoints the head of the judiciary, who in turn appoints the Supreme Court head and the top public prosecutor. After the Islamic revolution, the Supreme Court revoked all laws deemed un-Islamic and new laws were established based on Sharia, which is law framed around interpretations of the Islamic holy text, the Koran.

The judiciary nominates the six lay members of the Guardian Council who are usually lawyers. Public courts deal with civil and criminal offenses. Separate “revolutionary” courts try other categories of offenses such as crimes against national security or offenses that threaten the Islamic republic. A Special Clerical Court, which is accountable to the supreme leader and — outside of the judicial structure — crimes allegedly committed by clerics and occasionally lay people.

Decisions from the revolutionary courts or the clerical court are final and cannot be appealed.

Expediency Council
The Expediency Council, which Ayatollah Khomeini created in 1988, wields influence through its role as national policy adviser to the supreme leader. The council also mediates legislative disputes between the parliament and the Guardian Council.

Its members include heads of the three government branches, the clerical members of the Guardian Council and various other members appointed by the supreme leader for three-year terms. Cabinet members and parliamentary leaders also serve as temporary members when issues under their jurisdictions are under review.

Sources: U.S. Department of State Background Notes, Iran Chamber Society: “The Structure of Power in Iran,” BBC: “Iran: Who Holds the Power?”

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is Iran’s spiritual leader and highest authority. His voice overrides all others in the hierarchy.

Iran’s Supreme Leader takes a hard line

Any re-interpretation of the press law is not in the interests of the country and the system

Ayatollah Khamenei

He is widely regarded as the figurehead of the country’s conservative establishment.

 

He has repeatedly denounced the idea of talks with the United States. During and after the US-led war on Iraq, he was sharply critical of Washington’s policies.

When pro-reform students rioted in June 2003, Ayatollah Khamenei was quick to warn that such actions would not be tolerated. And he blamed the US for stirring up the trouble.

“Leaders do not have the right to have any pity whatsoever for the mercenaries of the enemy,” he said in a broadcast speech.

He succeeded Ayatollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, as Supreme Leader in 1989. Before that he was president for two successive terms from 1981-1989.

Khomeini was a cleric of the highest rank, a Source of Emulation. When Ayatollah Khamenei took over, the constitution had to be amended to allow the post to be held by a lower-ranking theologian.

Powers questioned

 

In 1997 he famously clashed with Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, a respected scholar who ranks higher in the hierarchy.

Ayatollah Montazeri, who is also one of Iran’s leading dissidents, questioned the powers of the Supreme Leader. This led to the closure of his religious school, an attack on his office in Qom and to a period of house arrest.

 

Then in November 1999 Ayatollah Khamenei went on TV to defend a controversial Special Clerical Court, which had just found the editor of a leading reformist daily guilty of publishing anti-Islamic articles.

Khordad editor and former interior minister Abdullah Nuri had described the court as “illegal”. Khamenei hit back, saying there was a need for a court that “had the courage to put a cleric on trial and demand answers”.

Ayatollah Khamenei has consistently backed the supervisory role of the conservative Guardian Council.

In August 2000, he sided with the Guardian Council in rejecting a Majlis (parliament) bill reforming the country’s press law.

A letter he wrote to parliament, quoted by the state news agency, said the current law had prevented the “enemies of Islam” from taking over the press.

“Thus any re-interpretation of the law is not in the interests of the country,” the letter argued.

The letter led to scuffles in the Majlis and to a debate on the powers of the Majlis and the Guardian Council. The press bill was withdrawn.

Ayatollah Khamenei did however intervene in the case of pro-reform academic Hashem Aghajari. In November 2002, Mr Aghajari said Muslims should re-interpret Islam rather than blindly follow leaders.

The judiciary sentenced him to death. When protests erupted in the capital, Khamenei ordered a review of the sentence. This is still pending.

In May 2003, over 100 members of parliament wrote an open letter to the ayatollah, warning that unless he removes obstacles to reforms the survival of the Islamic system will be at risk.

The MPs said Iran was facing a stark choice between democracy and dictatorship. The letter was posted on two Iranian websites, but was removed by the authorities after 24 hours.

stop delete my post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No matter who you are, stop deleting my post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I posted ‘Is it time for Iran to receive some America military massage?’ yesterday. Straight after that, I can’t log in my blog anymore.

I thought it’s maybe because of yesterday’s maintenance. But when I got back to my blog today, my post got deleted.

Then I posted my post ‘Is it time for Iran to receive some America military massage?’ again, then like yesterday, I can’t log in my blog anymore.

My post is only my opinion, I haven’t done anything wrong, so whoever the cyberpolice is, please stop messing with my freedom of speech!

Is it time for Iran to receive some America military massage?

AP

Isfahan buzzes once again

Iran is rapidly rising up to the hottest spotlight of middle-east in the post-saddam era.

It’s just claimed an ‘inalienable right’ in General Assembly to develop its own nuclear technology which can easily be converted into nuclear warheads at a convenient time of its own choice—what they’re trying to do now is to gain time. ‘Yet Iran has a 20 years record of lies, cover-ups and evasions (which it shrugs off as “discrepancies”) in its dealings with IAEA inspectors.” How can we put middle-east security and stability in the trust of such a regime?

Iran also has a huge possibility to win a crucial stake in the upcoming Iraq’s Election alongside with America Allies whose soldiers sacrifice thousands of their lives to this uneasy course of democracy and freedom. In this election, we will see a much wider gap between Shiite Iraq and Sunni Iraq, which will become a time-bomb for the future Iraq and push Iraq towards the direction of a Civil War. Other than that, Iran Factor will be an unignorable major factor for America to consider during the reconstruction of Iraq, which is of course not always that pleasant to American Interest.

If Iran buys all the time they need to build up its own nuclear arsenal, will it be too late for America to do anything about it? What’s the effect of such a possibility on the Middle-east security and stability and especially on the reconstruction of Iraq? The question is: before it’s too late, is it time for Iran to receive some America military massage?

This is not just the time but also a very urgent time. The first, no matter how many times we failed before,we should always try to refer the matter of Iran nuclear crisis to U.N. Security Council, which could impose sanctions, including an oil embargo. Sanctions are a very effective soft weapon to drain Iran’s economic power. We can force Iran to lose the financial strength to carry out its ambitious plan to develop its mass-destruction arsenal and maintain an aggressive army. We can make Iran’s economic situation so bad that more Iranians will stand up against their government and so we are easier to fund the Iran anti-government organizations and build up our people basis in Iran to prepare for the future invasion. For a successful war against a gangster state like Iran which is OPEC’s second largest oil producer and holds 10 percent of the world’s proven oil reserves and has the world’s second largest natural gas reserves (after Russia), sanctions are the most beautiful starter yet the most difficult part. Once the first part is done, we can follow the successful experience of Iraq War to defeat the drained Iran force.

But it is impossible to carry out this strategy at least for now:

Because the realities of today’s oil market, however, make any type of embargo unlikely, if not impossible, according to oil analysts:“An international embargo on Iranian oil could jack up the price of oil from the current price, now approaching $50 a barrel, to about $80 per barrel, said Robert E. Ebel, chairman of the energy program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. In prices adjusted for inflation, that would be higher than when oil prices peaked in 1981. ” But to avoid this, we can raise our oil reserves so much that we can relieve them to ease the oil price pressure during the war.

Another discouraging fact is that American intelligence on Iran is inadequate to allow firm judgments about Iran’s weapons programs, and therefore wouldn’t be able to provide convincing evidences before U.N. Security Council and crucial information for Pentagon to analysis the infrastructure of Iran defence force.

Besides,Right now America Army is so deeply trapped in the swamp of Iraq war and it is unlikely that America still has the sufficient budget and force to fight a huge well-armed force of Iran in the meantime.

Time is up for Iran but Iran sure is luckier than Saddam. For the long term, America will be forced to deal with this gangster state diplomatically.

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