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| | CNN - Iran: A new opening - 1998 |
 | | But while Khamenei is said to be opposed to much of this liberalization, some analysts believe that he is also a man who may be politically savvy enough to read the signs of the times, which clearly indicate that much of the Iranian population is fed up with rising prices and high unemployment. |
| | Khamenei may therefore realize, some say, that it is in his and the influential clergy's interest to allow a controlled, gradual economic and political liberalization, rather than risk a social explosion. |
| | Khamenei lacks Khomeini's charisma and learning, and his legitimacy has been challenged both by veteran Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, who was sacked as Khomeini's anointed successor after he criticized human rights abuses, and by dissident philosopher Abdolkarim Soroush, who advocates separating mosque and state. |
| www.cnn.com /SPECIALS/1998/iran/khamenei (526 words) |
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