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Podcast: Profile
Episode: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
Description: When Iran makes the news it is often that country's flamboyant and provocative president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who finds himself under the spotlight. But the man who wields real power in Iran is not Ahmadinejad, nor was it any of his predecessors as president. Instead it is the man who has served as the head of the country's religious structure since 1989, the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.The Ayatollah owes his rise to power to two men - his predecessor as Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and the previous president, Hashemi Rafsanjani. Ayatollah Khamenei has been...