Key Player: Ali Khamenei

Under the Iranian Constitution, no one has more authority than Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. He is Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces and is theoretically the person who oversees the proper function of the entire government. In this role, the Supreme Leader is supposed to be a fairly neutral arbiter of disputes. Khamenei has tried to play this role during the last 20 years as Supreme Leader, but his steadfast support of Ahmadinejad in the current crisis has brought into question his ability to be Supreme Leader.

Khamenei started studying to become a cleric which eventually led him to Iran's holiest city of Qom. It was there that he fell under the influence of Ayatollah Khomeini and became a follower of the leader of the 1979 Revolution. He was a close aide of Khomeini and helped him develop the Islamic Republic. Khamenei suffered a serious assassination attempt in 1981 that paralyzed his right arm leading him to earn the title of a living martyr. Later that same year, Khamenei was elected President of Iran after the previous President was assassinated.

Khamenei helped lead the country during the Iran-Iraq war and developed close ties to the nation's military and Republican Guard during this time. In 1989 after the death of Khomeini, Khamenei was selected as the new Supreme Leader because it was widely believed that Khomeni wanted him to be the next leader.

The decision was controversial because Khamenei was not a very high ranking cleric and had not reached the rank of Ayatollah. Although Khamenei is called Ayatollah today, it is mainly out of respect because he still does not have the religious credentials to merit such a title. Thus much of the upper religious establishment looked down on Khamenei's selection because of his low ranking. The fact that the top religious leader in the country did not become the Supreme Leader weakened Khomeini's argument that his government was based on religious legitimacy.

Khamenei maintained power by playing the different elements of the regime against each other and never letting any one side get too powerful. This worked effectively for nearly 20 years as he has been able to hold on to power. However with the growing strength of the opposition movement in 2009, Khamenei was so threatened that he might of felt that he had no choice but to completely support Ahmadinejad and the hardliners.

This caused him to support a clearly stolen election which had never happened in the history of Islamic Republic. This blatant violation of the constitution greatly weakened Khamenei's position as Supreme Leader and undermined public and religious support for his rule. Khamenei has thrown his entire lot with the hardliners and that might be his ultimate downfall as the people of Iran fight back against this repressive regime.