He is secretary of the ruling Revolutionary Council, president of Iran's Supreme Court and an ayatullahthe highest spiritual title in the Shi'ite branch of Islam. He is, in the view of Western diplomats, an ambitious powerbroker who puts personal game above political and even religious scruples. And as head of the Islamic Republic Party, the Ayatullah Seyyed Mohammed Beheshti, 51, represents the most serious opposition within Iran to President Banisadr. Beheshti, says a senior civil servant in Tehran who knows both men well, "won't let Banisadr sit back and enjoy the job."
Their antagonism is based less on personality than on principle....
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