Iran is a country where politics and religion are integrated, and there are two kinds of power: the power given by the people and the power given by God, and the latter restricts the former. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is elected by an expert committee composed of clergy, and has the right to veto parliamentary proposals and recall the elected president. Everything is up to him. He claimed that he would not participate in factional struggles and congratulated President Khatami on his re-election. But in most cases, he always sided with the conservatives. In recent years, reformists have successively won local municipal, parliamentary and presidential elections, and seized state administrative and legislative power from conservatives. However, parliamentary proposals must be reviewed and approved by conservative-controlled supervisory committees. Conservatives control key departments such as the army, police, security, justice and radio and television, and President Khatami's power is very limited. Facing the actual situation of Iranian society, President Khatami has repeatedly stressed that the reform should be carried out within the framework of the Islamic system and not divorced from religious beliefs. He asked the reformers to be patient, gentle and cautious. Nevertheless, conservatives still believe that his reform is westernized, aiming at replacing Islamic regime with secular regime.

Note: The current president is not Khatami. This article only introduces the nature of Iran.