Iran’s political system is a hybrid found nowhere else in the world: an Islamic theocracy fused with republican institutions. Citizens vote for a president and a parliament, yet ultimate authority rests with an unelected Supreme Leader, and a clerical body vets every candidate and every law for conformity with Islamic principles. To understand Iranian politics — its elections, its protest movements, its foreign policy — one must grasp how these two halves fit together.

The Supreme Leader: the system’s apex

The Supreme Leader (Rahbar) is Iran’s head of state and commander-in-chief, with authority over the armed forces, the judiciary, state media and the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. He is chosen for life by the Assembly of Experts, an 88-member body of clerics elected by voters from candidates the system itself approves. Since 1989 the position has been held by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who succeeded the Islamic Republic’s founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The Supreme Leader sets the overall direction of the state and can overrule elected officials; no major policy moves without his consent.

What does Iran’s president actually do?

The president is the highest elected official, chosen by direct popular vote for a four-year term, renewable once. He runs the day-to-day government: the economy, domestic policy and much of diplomacy. But his powers are bounded — the Supreme Leader controls the security apparatus and has the final word on strategic matters such as the nuclear programme. Reformist presidents have repeatedly discovered these limits: campaign promises of liberalisation tend to collide with unelected institutions that answer to the Leader, not the ballot box.

The Guardian Council: the system’s gatekeeper

The 12-member Guardian Council is the theocracy’s quality-control mechanism. Six clerics are appointed directly by the Supreme Leader and six jurists are nominated by the judiciary and approved by parliament. The Council vets all candidates for president, parliament and the Assembly of Experts — routinely disqualifying thousands, including sitting MPs deemed insufficiently loyal — and reviews all legislation for compatibility with Islamic law and the constitution, with the power to veto it. Critics call it the instrument by which hardliners narrow the field before a single vote is cast.

Parliament, the judiciary and the Revolutionary Guard

The 290-seat Majlis (parliament) debates and passes laws and approves budgets, operating as a genuine, often fractious legislature within its permitted lane. The judiciary is headed by a chief justice appointed by the Supreme Leader. Looming over all of it is the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a parallel military force with vast economic holdings and internal-security duties, answerable to the Leader. The IRGC’s economic empire and its role in suppressing dissent make it one of the most powerful actors in the system.

Why do elections still matter?

Despite vetting and the Leader’s supremacy, elections in Iran are real contests with real consequences.

• Turnout signals legitimacy: the leadership treats high turnout as proof of popular consent, so boycott campaigns by reformists carry weight.
• Factional competition: hardliners, pragmatists and reformists genuinely compete within the permitted field, and outcomes shift economic and social policy.
• Pressure valves: elections channel dissent into the system — until they do not, as the mass protests of 2009, 2019 and 2022 showed.
• Succession stakes: with the Supreme Leader in his eighties, control of elected institutions shapes the coming succession struggle.

Iran’s system was designed to combine divine sovereignty with popular sovereignty, and its permanent tension lies exactly there. The republican half gives citizens a voice; the theocratic half decides how loud that voice may be.

What is at stake in the succession?

With Ayatollah Khamenei in his mid-eighties, the question of who follows him dominates elite politics. The Assembly of Experts will formally choose the next Leader, but the real contest plays out among the IRGC, senior clerics and rival factions positioning their candidates. A smooth succession would preserve the system; a contested one could expose its fractures. For ordinary Iranians, the succession matters because the next Leader will set the tone — confrontation or accommodation — for a generation.

FAQs

Who holds the most power in Iran?

The Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who commands the armed forces, appoints key officials and has the final say on strategic policy.

Can anyone run for president in Iran?

No. The Guardian Council vets all candidates and disqualifies those it deems insufficiently committed to the Islamic Republic, often including prominent reformists.

Is Iran’s parliament democratic?

It is elected by universal suffrage and debates real legislation, but candidates are pre-screened and its laws can be vetoed by the Guardian Council.

Compiled by the Khabar 24h Editorial Desk from publicly available sources.