In this image posted on April 12, 2026, Minister of State for External Affairs Pabitra Margherita attends the 40th day mourning ceremony for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei organised by the Iranian Embassy in New Delhi. Picture: X/@MEAIndia via PTI

Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Iran’s slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. File
| Photo Credit: AFP

Iran’s unique political system — which has been designed in such a way that the Shia clergy has ultimate authority in all critical matters related to the state, even as elections are held in regular intervals — is a child of the 1979 revolution.

While it’s popularly called the “Islamic revolution”, the anti-Shah movement was not just Islamic. True, Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini, who, while in exile in Iraq’s Najaf, had called for the Shah’s ouster, and became the embodiment of the mass agitations in the 1970s. But Iranians from different political sections, including nationalists, liberals, leftists and trade unionists, had actively joined the movement, seeking freedom from the Shah’s dictatorship.

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The Shah, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, who had to briefly flee the country in the early 1950s and was restored after the CIA helped the monarchists orchestrate a coup against the democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh, was more or less detached from the political reality on ground. He orchestrated grand ceremonies celebrating the monarchy (such as the extravagant 1971 celebration of “the 2,500th year of the Iranian monarchy” spending some $100 million), banned all political parties except the monarchist Resurgence Party (Hezb-e-Rastakhiz) and assumed himself the title of Aryan Sun (Aryamehr) — apolitical and spiritual guide of Iran. When an increasingly isolated Shah tried to consolidate more and more powers in his hands, SAVAK, his secret police, ran amok in the country, rounding up political dissidents.

Iranians are no strangers to political rebellion and defiance. In 1896, Naser al-Din Shah, the fourth Shah of Qajar Iran, was assassinated inside a mosque in Tehran. The assassination and its aftermath would eventually lead to the Constitutional Revolution of 1905-1911, which led to the establishment of a Parliament in Persia.

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Reza Shah Pahlavi ignored this history of rebellion when he unleashed his forces on increasingly disgruntled protesters, which eventually led to his own downfall. When the Shah fled the country in January 1979, Khomeini was in Paris. He landed in Tehran’s Mehrabad airport, which was controlled by the revolutionaries, on February 1, 1979.

They turned a disused girls’ school in central Tehran into a make-shift headquarters of the Revolutionary Council. And one of the first things Khomeini did was to form a paramilitary force — the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). But the Islamists could not ignore other sections of the revolution completely.

So, Khomeini ushered in a new system that would have an elected President and Parliament, while the clerics would remain firmly in control. He promised an Islamic revolutionary government based on Sharia, a model which he called Vilayat-e Faqih (Guardianship of the Faqih, or the Islamic Jurist).

Clerical control

Iran’s state has both elected and unelected branches and the unelected branch is more powerful than the former. The President, Parliament (Majles) and the Assembly of Experts are directly elected, while the Supreme Leader, the Guardian Council and the Expediency Council are appointed by the clergy. The President is the head of the government, which is in charge of running the day-to-day affairs of the country, but is not the head of the state. The Supreme Leader is the most powerful person in the country and is both the political leader and spiritual guide of the Islamic Republic.

The presidential term is four years and Presidents cannot have more than two consecutive terms. The election process itself is largely considered fair (though there were disputes, such as the 2009 elections), but all the candidates are vetted by the Guardian Council, which usually disqualifies an overwhelming majority of the candidates. The 290-member Islamic Consultative Assembly (Majles) has the authority to legislate. But all the Bills the Majles passes should go to the unelected Guardian Council, which would vet whether the Bill is in compliance with the Islamic Constitution and values.

The powerful Guardian Council has 12 members, a combination of six religious experts, who will directly be appointed by the Supreme Leader, and six Islamic legal jurists, nominated by the Chief Justice (who in turn is appointed by the Supreme Leader). So the Supreme Leader’s office has direct or indirect control over the Guardian Council, which oversees the elections, vets the candidates and has a veto over Parliament.

Unlike the President, the Supreme Leader doesn’t have any fixed term. Since the 1979 revolution, Iran has had only two Supreme Leaders — Khomeini (who died in 1989) and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was assassinated by a joint American-Israeli strike on February 28, 2026. Iran, now at war with the U.S. and Israel, is currently in the process of choosing its third Supreme Leader.

The Constitution mandates the 88-member Assembly of Experts to elect the Supreme Leader. The Assembly, which also has the authority to oversee and dismiss the Supreme Leader, is directly elected, but the candidates are strictly vetted by the Guardian Council, whose members are directly or indirectly picked by the Supreme Leader. If there are legal disputes between the elected Majles and the unelected Guardian Council, the 45-member Expediency Council, which advises the Supreme Leader, will have ultimate adjudicating powers. And all 45 members of the Council are appointed by the Supreme Leader, who is also the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.

In essence, the Islamic Constitution ensures that the Supreme Leader and the clerical establishment stay firmly in charge of all branches of the state.

Principalists and reformists

Iran’s political class is broadly divided into two categories — principalists (better known as hardliners) and reformists. The principalists make up the conservative bloc that enjoys the support of the clergy, whereas reformists advocate political and social reforms from within. The election of Mohammad Khatami as President in 1997 was a critical moment for reformist politics. But Mr. Khatami, an influential and popular reformist, failed to usher in any major changes in the system. Hassan Rouhani, the former President, was also a reformist, while his successor, Ebrahim Raisi, was a principalist. The current President, Masoud Pezeshkian, belongs to the reformist camp.

When Khomeini established his clerical rule after the revolution, many expected the new order to collapse quickly. Instead, Khomeini purged internal dissent and consolidated the clergy’s grip even when the country fought an eight-year war with Iraq. Over four decades later, the system the Ayatollah built faces its gravest challenges yet.

Iran was bombed by Israel and the U.S. in June 2025, while the alliance network it had built in West Asia has been weakened by Israeli attacks.

In January 2026, Iran witnessed massive protests and riots amid deteriorating economic situation. And now, with Israel and the U.S. bombarding Iran and openly calling for regime change, the Islamic Republic is fighting a do-or-die battle on multiple fronts.

Published – March 05, 2026 07:00 pm IST

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
| Photo Credit: AP

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves during a meeting with the Iranian people, in Tehran on February 1, 2026.
| Photo Credit: AFP

A file image of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via Reuters.

In this photo released by the official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves in his meeting with a group of students in Tehran, Iran. File.
| Photo Credit: ap

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Tuesday (January 28, 2025) that Gaza had brought Israel “to its knees”, in a reference to the recent ceasefire in the Palestinian territory.

The ceasefire and hostage-release deal between Iran’s arch-enemy Israel and the Tehran-backed militant group Hamas went into effect just over a week ago, aiming to put an end to more than 15 months of war.

“The small, limited Gaza brought the Zionist regime, armed to the teeth and fully supported by America, to its knees,” Mr. Khamenei said during a meeting with officials in Tehran.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi meanwhile appeared to mock U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to relocate Palestinians, saying instead that Israelis should be sent to Greenland to resolve the issue.

“Instead of Palestinians, try to expel Israelis, take them to Greenland, killing two birds with one stone,” he said, in an interview with Sky News that was posted on his official Telegram channel.

“They can resolve the problem of Greenland and the Israelis, it would be a good place for them,” he added.

Mr. Trump on Monday (January 26, 2025) expressed his desire to move Palestinians from Gaza to “safer” locations such as Egypt or Jordan.

The U.S. President has also for years touted a purported plan to take over the autonomous Danish territory of Greenland, telling reporters on Saturday he believed the United States would “get Greenland”.

Earlier on Tuesday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmaeil Baqaei, had also criticised the idea of moving Palestinians out of Gaza.

“Political coercion and demographic manipulations will not be able to force the Palestinians to migrate,” Baqaei said in a post on X, adding that Gaza is the Palestinians’ “homeland and they’ve paid (an) extremely high price to remain there”.

The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, which resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Militants also took 251 hostages, 87 of whom remain in Gaza, including dozens Israel says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed over 47,000 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s Health Ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.

The “hijab and chastity law” in Iran proposes stricter penalties for girls and women who do not fully cover their hair, forearms, or lower legs, including fines, prison sentences of up to 15 years.

However, Iran’s National Security Council has put the brakes on this antiquated and contentious law after it was supposed to come into effect last Friday.

This comes in after the law received worldwide and domestic backlash. President Masoud Pezeshkian said the legislation was “ambiguous and in need of reform”, whereas Amnesty International, a human rights organisation said the Iranian authorities were “seeking to entrench the already suffocating system of repression.”

Pezeshkian voiced his disapproval of the country’s mistreatment of women regarding hijabs earlier this year during his presidential campaign.

“Just as they could not forcibly remove hijabs from women’s heads in the past, they cannot now force it onto them. We have no right to impose our will on our women and daughters”, he said.

His promise of personal freedom resonated with young girls and women who were already frustrated with restrictions imposed by the government.

The law was also criticised by Masoumeh Ebtekar, a former vice-president for women and family affairs, who called it, “an indictment of half the Iranian population”.

The hijab discourse has always been in the picture but it was reinforced more so when a woman, Parastoo Ahmadi, was arrested after she posted a video of herself singing on YouTube without a hijab, in a sleeveless dress, with her hair down accompanied by four male musicians.

“I am Parastoo, a girl who wants to sing for the people I love. This is a right I could not ignore; singing for the land I love passionately”, read the caption.

After the video went viral, she was arrested along with her band members but was released a day later after the arrest received widespread backlash.

The hijab controversy has been ongoing since 2022, triggered by the death of Mahsa “Zhina” Amini, who died in police custody after violating the dress code. In the wake of her death, women have challenged the government and defied hijab rules. Younger people in Iran appear fearless and defying such laws despite the restrictions and pressure from factions close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

According to the BBC, last week, more than 300 Iranian rights activists, writers and journalists publicly condemned the new hijab law, calling it “illegitimate and unenforceable” and urged Pezeshkian to honour his campaign promises.

Nevertheless, the decision to pause the implementation of the law shows that the government is apprehensive of the protests that might set off, similar to the ones seen two years ago.
 

Dubai:

The supreme leader of Iran, which backs the Hamas and Hezbollah militants fighting Israel in Gaza and Lebanon, said on Monday that death sentences should be issued for Israeli leaders, not arrest warrants.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was commenting on a decision by the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants on Thursday for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defence chief and a Hamas leader, Ibrahim Al-Masri.

“They issued an arrest warrant, that’s not enough… Death sentence must be issued for these criminal leaders”, Khamenei said, referring to the Israeli leaders.

In their decision, the ICC judges said there were reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant were criminally responsible for acts including murder, persecution and starvation as a weapon of war as part of a “widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of Gaza”.

The decision was met with outrage in Israel, which called it shameful and absurd. Gaza residents expressed hope it would help end the violence and bring those responsible for war crimes to justice.

Israel has rejected the jurisdiction of the Hague-based court and denies war crimes in Gaza.

The warrant for a Hamas leader, Ibrahim Al-Masri, lists charges of mass killings during the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel that triggered the war on the long-blockaded Palestinian enclave, and also charges of rape and the taking of hostages.

Israel has said it killed Masri, also known as Mohammed Deif, in an airstrike in July but Hamas has neither confirmed nor denied this.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)