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| Political Personages in Iran |
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I started this page just so I could keep track of who is who. It is not fair to reduce a person's entire views to a word or two, but consider this a first approximation of where the various players line up. Because these first names are unfamiliar to U.S. citizens, I've indicated who are women. Titles are given if I know them. |
Senior Officials
| Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khameneh'i | Supreme Leader. Conservative, but somewhat pragmatic compared to some hard-liners.. |
| Hojjatoleslam Seyed Mohammad Khatami, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran | Elected president in May 1997. Moderate reformer. Yes, he has a web site, and you can send him e-mail. Born in 1943, the son of an Ayatollah. Has a B.A. in philosophy in addition to a theological degree. More info at this site. |
| Mehdi Karubi | Speaker of the parliament. Islamic left. Husband of Fatmeh. Either 57 or 63, depending on who you ask. A profile is here. |
Government Officials & Clerics
| Hassan Ebrahim Habibi | First Vice-president. Born 1936, Ph.D. in law from the Sorbonne. |
| Dr. Masoumeh Ebtekar | Vice President (one of several). Woman. Head of Environmental Protection Organization. Known as "Sister Mary," a gun-toting leader of the 1979 Hostage Crisis. |
| Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati | Hard-liner. |
| Brigadier General Hedayat Lotfian | Head of Law Enforcement Forces. |
| Jamileh Kadivar | Elected to Tehran city council in Feb. 1999. Reformer. Wife of Mohsen Kadivar. |
| Kamal Kharrazi | Foreign Minister, born in 1944. |
| Reza Khatami | Younger brother of president. Leader of IIPF political party. MP for Tehran. |
| Hojjatolslam Mohammad Mousavi Khoeinia | Manages Salam newspaper, took part in US Embassy hostage taking in 1979, member of Expediency Council, Advisor to Khatami. |
| Gholamreza Mohseni-Ezhei | Head of the Special Clerical Court, appointed by Khamenei in Dec. 1998. |
| Hojjatoleslam Seyed Abdolvahed Mousavi Lari | Minister of the Interior since July 1998. Nominally in charge of the police, but in practice has little power. Born 1954. |
| Gholamreza Naqdi | Intelligence chief. |
| Hojatoleslam Abdullah Nouri | Reformer, theologian, ally of President Kaatami. Was ousted from position of Interior Minister by hard-liners in June 98. Elected to Tehran city council in Feb. 99. Owns Khordad, a banned newspaper. Imprisioned in Nov. 1999. Advocate of a reformed Islam. |
| Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi | Former head of the Islamic Judiciary, now on Council of Guardians. Very conservative. |
Prominent Figures
| Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani | Former president. |
| Saeed Emani | Former deputy Information minister, convicted of involvement in murders of dissitants, committed suicide in June 99. |
| Faezeh Hashemi | Runs Zan newspaper. Daughter of Rafsanjani. Reformer. |
| Mohsen Kadivar | Intelectual. Pro Khatami. |
| Ayatollah Hoseinali Montazeri | Under house arrest. |
| Gholamhossein Karbaschi | Former mayor of Tehran. |
| Ali Akbar Nateq-Nuri | Former speaker of the parliament. Conservative. Lost to Khatami in 1997 presidential election. |
| Abdolkarim Soroush | Intelectual. Pro Khatami. |
| Azam Taleghani | Islamist women's rights advocate. Daughter of Ayatollah Mahmoud Taleghani. |