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This article argues that theocracy is not a long-term political system for Iran and that its leader Ayatollah Khomeini will not last. According to the author, Iran is now off on a new frenzied tangent but soon his frenzy will dissolve. The country remains a gifted, progressive, God-fearing nation despite the instability and imbalance which seem to characterize its history. The author contends that the Soviet Union calculated the Iranian factor before invading Afghanistan. He believes that whatever happens to the Iranians, they did it to themselves.

Focuses on Iran. President Mohammed Khatami's news conference warning that the United States and Iran remain far apart on key issues; Mention of his address to the United Nations at the opening of the General Assembly in fall 1998; The country veering politically between moderation and extremism; Mention of the death sentence imposed against an author by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989; The struggle for power within Iran and the government debate on whether to attack Afghanistan. INSET: A step forward, a step back.

The article looks at the challenges faced by Iran's provisional Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan in guiding the country back from revolutionary chaos to some form of order. Bazargan has resisted the Ayatollah Khomeini and the Iranian left on several issues, including Khomeini's demand to ban frozen meat imports. It is noted that Bazargan's initiatives have gained him political authority and a respite from religious criticism.

In this article the author profiles a number of ayatollahs, or Islamic clerics, whose teachings and beliefs shaped the Islamic republic of Iran and those who control its political life in August 2009. Several individuals are discussed including Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei, the primary architect of the Islamic state, Ali Khamanei, the supreme leader of Iran in 2009, and Yousuf Sanei, a prominent advocate of reform.

The article discusses the importance of Qom, Iran, a religious center of the Shia Muslim world. Qom is the place from which the Ayatollah Khomeini launched his Iranian revolution in 1979. The article discusses Khomeini's belief in velayat-e faqih, a supposed mandate from God that applies to political power. The article discusses how the beliefs of Qom influence Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the current government of Iran.

The article discusses the problems that Iran's Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan and his appointed cabinet might face as they try to revive the economy of the country after the revolution of Islamist ruler Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979. According to a diplomat in Tehran, Iran, the challenges faced by the national government are linked with the political situation and stabilization of the country. The author mentions that the problem focused on the fundamental difference in the views of the radicals and educated people on the modernization of its economy.

The article presents an outlook for a Iranian regime under the leadership of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Khomeini is cited as the inspiration for the fall of the regime of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. If Khomeini comes to power, he is not expected to adopt policies that protect Western interest due to his anti-Americanism. Mehdi Bazargan, Khomeini's confidant, was given the task to secure Iranian oil supplies.

The article explores the history of the Iranian Revolution. The author compares the foundation of the Islamic Republic with the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the French Revolution of 1789. The article discusses the isolation of the Shah, government repression and conflict in Iran. The rise to power of Ayatollah Khomeini and symbolic resistance to western secular capitalism are considered.

This article focuses on the political instability of Iran and the apathy of citizens toward an upcoming election which is known to be unfair. Twenty-five years after the revolution that saw Ayatollah Khomeini depose the shah amid scenes of mass euphoria, Iran is in a dismal mess--economic, diplomatic and political--and there is no obvious way out, short of the clerics stepping down and handing power to the people in a genuinely free and fair election. Though Iran still has 10% of the world's known oil reserves and more gas than any other country bar Russia, its GDP per head was 30% higher under the shah. Shocking events, such as the death in Iranian custody last year of a female Canadian-Iranian journalist after she was beaten up, continue to remind the world how dissidents can be hounded and tortured. Next week's poll puts the limits of Iran's highly qualified freedom into stark relief. Iran also continues to sponsor terrorism against Israel and, unlike the Arab countries, it has yet even to accept Israel's right to exist.

Examines the rise to power of Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Forecast of Iran's future under expected successor Sayeed Ali Khamenei.

The article reflects on the political problems faced by Iran as of March 1979. It states the persistent leitmotif of Persian history. It describes the social conditions in Iran. It stresses the outcome of Ayatollah Khomeini's referendum on an Islamic Republic. It addresses the trend toward secular government.

Iran's election last week made it clear that the Islamic Republic founded by Ayatollah Khomeini 25 years ago has not evolved as some had hoped into a serious democracy. So the predictable outcome was a victory for the religious conservatives. Iran's leaders insist that they do not want nuclear weapons, and never have. With each new leak, Iran has changed its story. It now admits to having had a secret programme to enrich uranium. Along with Libya and North Korea, it seems to have been one of the main customers of Abdul Qadeer Khan, the disgraced Pakistani who ran a global nuclear-smuggling network. The mere prospect of Iran acquiring a bomb has prompted Israel to ponder aloud the case for a pre-emptive strike. If Iran got the bomb, sometime enemies such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia might feel compelled to follow suit. In short, though a nuclear Iran may not be worth fighting a war to avert, it is a danger worth averting.

Comments on the character of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's regime in Iran. Report on Khomeini's death threat to British author Salman Rushdie who wrote "The Satanic Verses"; War the country has faced between 1979 and 1989; Social conditions in Iran under Khomeini; Use of Islam to justify violence; Implications for international relations with Iran.

Speculates on the future of the Islamic Republic of Iran under Khomeini's heir apparent, Hojetoleslam Hashemi Rafsanjani. Corruption and incompetence in the army; Comparisons to other world `aftermath' situations (Afghanistan, Argentina, etc.).

This article wonders who the leader is of those militants who are holding the U.S. embassy in Iran as of January 25, 1980. The militants have stressed that they take orders only from Ayatollah Khomeini but, the author observes, they have been acting on their own initiative. They are planning to try another hostage for war crimes committed by the U.S. in Vietnam. The militants' actions, the author notes, are confusing. According to him, the militants keep Muslims' attention on the domestic scene by keeping the fires hot.