The Supreme Leader -- Ayatollah Khamanei, Khomeini's successor -- controls many levers of power, army, the police and the electronic media. He is elected by a council of clerics.

Iran also has a president, elected by universal suffrage. Iranians elected a new president in May 1997. Mohammad Khatami is seen as a progressive moderate. He won a convincing victory over the religious establishment's candidate thanks largely to support from women and young people (the voting age is 1 5).

Khatami's platform calls for a re-building of civil society and respect for the rule of law. Khatami, like former president Rafsanjani, calls for debt reduction and economic liberalisation. In foreign policy, Khatami calls for the normalisation of Iran's relations with other countries (except Israel). In a well-publicised speech, Khatami even called for an informal exchange of intellectuals with the United States.
Khatami's domestic and foreign policy goals have generated some opposition from the conservative Islamists who support the Supreme Leader; the pace of Khatami's social change so far is proceeding slowly. On the economic front, the government is expanding its previous policy of allowing foreign participation in the mining and even the oil and gas sectors. The extent to which the government is willing to allow foreign imports continues to depend on oil revenue, as Iran works to pay its debts and balance its books.