However, the effort was derailed when Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei sent a letter to the Speaker of Parliament, Mehdi Karroubi, expressing his opposition. Karroubi read the letter aloud in an open session and unilaterally suspended the discussion, treating the Supreme Leader’s note as binding. The move effectively killed the bill and underscored the fragility of democratic procedures under the weight of unelected authority.
The episode was emblematic of a broader pattern: even when elected representatives acted within their legal rights, their initiatives could be nullified by the higher authority of the Supreme Leader and his allies in the judiciary, the Guardian Council, and the security forces.
Dialogue of Civilizations and International Standing
In contrast to domestic turmoil, Khatami found more success on the international stage. He proposed the concept of a “Dialogue among Civilizations” as an antidote to Samuel Huntington’s “Clash of Civilizations” thesis. The initiative gained international traction, and in 1998, the United Nations declared 2001 the “Year of Dialogue among Civilizations,” based on Khatami’s proposal.
This diplomatic success marked a sharp turn from the preceding years when Iran was diplomatically isolated. When Khatami took office, Iran was still reeling from the fallout of the Mykonos restaurant assassinations in Germany, in which a German court convicted Iranian officials for murdering Kurdish opposition leaders. As a result, all EU ambassadors had withdrawn from Tehran.