Iran: key players and where they stand

Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said this morning that protests over last Friday's disputed presidential election must end. In a stern warning to the defeated reformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, he said political leaders would be blamed for any further violence.

Khamenei made his remarks while leading Friday prayers at Tehran University, the campus where seven students were reported to have been shot dead on Sunday night by basiji paramilitaries loyal to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Mousavi's supporters, who had earlier called off a rally planned for Friday afternoon, are still intending to march again on Saturday, despite Khamenei's clear threat of a clampdown.

At this crucial moment in the crisis, this is where the key players stand:

AYATOLLAH ALI KHAMENEI
The Supreme Leader greeted Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election as "a divine result" before questions were raised about electoral fraud. Under international pressure, he advised the Guardian Council - the body of 12 clerics who administered the election - to look at requests for a partial recount. But his remarks at prayers today suggest this is never going to lead to a different result.

As had been expected by the opposition, the 69-year-old Khamenei (above right) used his sermon at Tehran University to call for a return to order after six days of street protests, in which eight people are reported to have died.

Although the Guardian Council has agreed to meet Mousavi and the two other defeated presidential candidates, Khamenei made it clear he discounts all allegations of electoral fraud, insisting the Islamic Republic "would not cheat" and "would not betray the vote of the people".

As the BBC's Tehran correspondent Jon Leyne put it today, "Khamenei appears to have staked everything on this election result and Mr Ahmadinejad".

HASHEMI RAFSANJANI
Many Western diplomats and academics say that a power struggle between Ayatollah Khamenei and former President Rafsanjani lies behind the post-election crisis. While Khamenei backed Ahmadinejad's re-election, the wealthy Rafsanjani (above left) quietly funded Mousavi's bid.

This dates back to Rafsanjani's failure to retake the presidency at the last election in 2005. He was beaten by Ahmadinejad, who was publicly backed by Khamenei. The subsequent rift between the two elders is key.

Rafsanjani, 75, strengthened his position in 2007 by gaining the chairmanship of the Assembly of Experts, the 86-member body charged with supervising and selecting the Supreme Leader. In theory, this body also has the power to remove the Supreme Leader. As David Blair, diplomatic editor of the Daily Telegraph, puts it: "The central question behind the present crisis is whether Rafsanjani may now try to exercise this power".

In recent days, Rafsanjani's daughter Faezeh and son Mahdi have been accused of treason for rallying Mousavi supporters. Both have been barred from leaving Iran.

MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD
The hardline president was re-elected last Friday with a supposed 63 per cent of the vote, as against 34 per cent for Mousavi. Protests by Mousavi's supporters at what they claimed was electoral fraud began the next day in Tehran.

Ahmadinejad responded with contempt. But his phrase "dirt and dust" - khas o khashak in Farsi - to describe those who questioned his re-election has come back to haunt him. It has been taken up by protestors in street chants, posters and blog headlines. "We are not dirt and dust, we are Iran's nation," is one popular slogan.

According to Western intelligence reports, Ahmadinejad probably did win the election. While the liberal intelligentsia may dislike him and his policies, including his ugly rhetoric about Israel, he has improved the lot of many poor Iranians and has their undoubted support. Ayatollah Khamenei made a point of saying today that Ahmadinejad's views on foreign affairs and social issues were close to his.

MIR HOSSEIN MOUSAVI
The so-called "reformist" candidate won 34 per cent of the vote in last Friday's election and has been claiming electoral fraud ever since. His supporters say that all the indications - including a huge turnout - suggested a close race or even victory for their man.

Some Western-based observers question how much of a reformist Mousavi would be. He is a former prime minister in the 1980s under Ayatollah Khomeini, and all the candidates in last week's election had to be approved by Khamenei.

According to the US-based human rights lawyer Lily Mazahery, speaking this week on Channel 4 News, many of the young demonstrators seen on the streets of Tehran want reforms that are way beyond Mousavi's ambitions.

This weekend is critical for Mousavi and his followers. Do they continue with their protests, despite the call from Khamenei to call it a day, or do they give back the streets to Ahmadinejad's riot police and basiji militiamen? ·