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Two weeks ago, the most freely elected parliament in Iranian history took up its duties in a marble-sided edifice in downtown Tehran. In the biggest boost for reform since Khatami's victory in 1997, Iranians in February ousted conservatives and handed Khatami control of the 290-seat Majlis-e Shura. The mullah count in this new, moderate parliament is down from 53 to 33. And among the deputies taking their seats were an actor-politician in Western blue jeans and women M.P.s, daringly dressed in head scarves rather than chadors.
Few personify the possibilities--and dangers--of this new Iranian revolution better than Khatami, 57. The 5-ft. 10-in. President grew up in a tolerant home in Yazd province, which prides itself on its diversity. He trained as a cleric in Qum, one of the holiest of Iranian cities, but also studied Western philosophy. He played no big role in Khomeini's revolution, yet nonetheless rose to become a leading religious intellectual, prized for both his candor and his mind. But he was never a man who lusted for power. Friends recall his fury when a group of liberal clerics suggested he run for President. But when moderates convinced him that his credibility with hard-liners meant he was the only man who could change Iran, he plunged into the 1997 campaign.
As a mullah, Khatami hardly rejects the notion of an Islamic republic. His most cherished aim is to serve the Islamic government by giving people the right to choose it--a concept that is dangerously revolutionary to hard-liners who believe in imposing it by diktat. Outside Iran, especially in Washington, diplomats speculate that Khatami may be unable to convince the hard-liners that reform is really necessary, and American officials grimly point to Khatami's meetings with supporters of terrorism as a sign that he may not be as moderate as some hope.
Khatami has plenty of enemies--but also a vibrant, courageous collection of allies. Mohsen Mirdamadi, 44, an M.P. who arrived at the new parliament dressed nattily in a tweed jacket and horn-rimmed glasses, is typical of the breed of intellectuals who share Khatami's vision. In 1979 Mirdamadi was among a handful of students who organized the seizure of the U.S. embassy. But his politics moderated after he spent several years learning the ropes of Western democracy while earning a doctorate at Cambridge University. He is now a top strategist for the Participation Front, the moderate party led by, among others, the President's brother Reza. The name of the party is deliberate: what Iran's new revolutionaries want to bring to their country is legitimate--and open--democracy. "The people have very high expectations," says Mirdamadi. "They expect serious changes."
Over tea at the horseshoe-shaped table in the party's conference room, Mirdamadi sketches out the reform dream for Iran. One of the first goals, he explains, will be to loosen press restrictions, thus enabling the reform newspapers and magazines that were first muzzled in April to begin publishing again. This is more than just a battle for civil rights: reopening the dissident press will help keep the reform movement--and its leaders--alive. The Participation Front is also hoping to open Iran's opaque judicial system with a bill that will give conservative judges less leeway to lock up reformers on grounds that their democratic ideas contravene Islamic teachings.