Iran's system of government (nezam) was described by Juan José Linz in 2000 as combining "the ideological bent of totalitarianism with the limited pluralism of authoritarianism".

[1] Although it "holds regular elections in which candidates who advocate different policies and incumbents are frequently defeated",[1] Iran scored lower than Saudi Arabia in the 2021 Democracy Index, determined by the Economist Intelligence Unit.

According to Karim Sadjadpour he either has direct or indirect control of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government, as well as the military and the media.

[4] In 1998, the Guardian Council rejected Hadi Khamenei's candidacy for a seat in the Assembly of Experts for "insufficient theological qualifications".

[5][6] In addition, there are representatives elected from appointed organizations, usually under the Supreme Leader's control, to "protect the state's Islamic character".

[7] In 1979, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was overthrown by an Islamic Revolution in Iran, replacing its millennia-old monarchy with a theocratic republic.

Guardianship of the Jurist is a concept in Twelver Shia Islamic law, which holds that, in the absence of the "Infallible Imam", who, according to Twelver beliefs, is the religious and political leader of Islam and will reappear sometime before Judgement Day, righteous Shi'i jurists (faqīh)[12] should administer "some" of the "religious and social affairs" of the Shi'i community.

In a 1970 book on the subject circulated to his network of supporters, Khomeini argued that since Islamic sharia law contains everything needed to rule a state, whether ancient or modern,[14] any other basis of governance will lead to injustice and sin.

[16] These Guardians are deemed the true holders of both religious and political authority, who must be obeyed as "an expression of obedience to God",[17] and whose rule has "precedence over all secondary ordinances in Islam such as prayer, fasting, and pilgrimage.

By the early 1980s, power struggles ended in leftists and nationalists eliminated from all governmental institutions,[19][20][21] and the revolutionary leader Ayatollah Khomeini and his supporters firmly in control.

"Notions of democracy and human rights" now have much deeper roots among Iranians than under the Shah,[37] and in fact are "almost hegemonic" (Arzoo Osanloo),[38] so that it is much harder to spread fear among them, even to the point that if Iranian intelligence services "were to arrest anyone who speaks ill of the government in private, they simply couldn't build cells fast enough to hold their prisoners", according to journalist Hooman Majd.

[40] Somewhere between 3,000 and 30,000 political prisoners were executed between July and early September 1988 on orders of the Ayatollah Khomeini, causing a 2020 UN Special Rapporteurs to send a letter to the regime describing the killings as "crimes against humanity".

); and for "extrajudicial" actions that follow neither, such as firebombings of newspaper offices, and beatings, torture, rape, and killing without trial of political prisoners and dissidents/civilians.

His powers extend to issuing decrees and making final decisions on the economy, environment, foreign policy, education, national planning of population growth,[65][66][67][68][69][70][71] the amount of transparency in elections in Iran,[72] and who is to be fired and reinstated in the Presidential cabinet.

Its abolition has been attributed to Ayatollah Khomeini's well founded belief that leftist, monarchists and nationalists had been suppressed, and his network's place in power was secure.

[86] Scholars such as Maziar Behrooz, Behzad Nabavi, Bahman Baktiari, Maaike Warnaar, Payam Mohseni, have given different formulations of them, varying in number, usually between three and five, the basic three being Principlists aka hard liners, Pragmatists and Reformists, and orientation (ideological purity vs. pragmatism; support for political and religious freedom vs. authoritarianism; support for regulation and intervention in the marketplace vs. laissez faire policies).

[89] A unique feature of Iran's economy is the large size of the religious foundations, called Bonyads, whose combined budgets make up more than 30% of that of the central government.

[94] But according to the Santiago Principles, NDFI must coordinate its investment decisions and actions with the macro-economic and monetary policies of the government of Iran.

[95] According to the Vice President for Parliamentary Affairs, Iran's subsidy reforms would save 20 percent of the country's budget.

[citation needed] According to the head of the Department of Statistics of Iran,[100] if the rules of budgeting were observed in this structure, the government could save at least 30 to 35 percent on its expenses.

In Iran's state budget for the Iranian calendar year 1388 (2009–2010), of the $102 billion earmarked for government spending,[96] Oil revenues are calculated based on the average price of $37.50 per barrel at the US Dollar conversion rate of 9,500 Rials.

The 2011-12 total budget is 40 per cent bigger than previous year's (which stood at $368 billion) because of dropping subsidies on energy and food item.

The bill has set the price of oil at $95 per barrel, based on the official exchange rate of 12,260 rials for a U.S. dollar, which has been fixed by the Central Bank of Iran.

The 2014 budget assumes an average oil price of $100 per barrel, inflation at 21%, GDP growth at 3% and the official USD/IRR exchange rate at 26,000 Iranian rials.

[135] The administration has set the goal of 519 trillion rials, (about $20.9 billion) government's income from implementation of the subsidy reform plan in budget bill and will be likely forced to double fuel prices.

[136] In February 2014, Parliament approved a total budget bill worth 7,930 trillion rials ($319 billion at the official exchange rate).

The IMF estimated in October 2014 that Iran would run a general government deficit of $8.6 billion in 2015, at the official exchange rate, to be compensated by drawing on the National Development Fund.

The Iranian state is the biggest player in the economy, and the annual budget strongly influences the outlook of local industries and the stock market.

According to the current law, the Guardian Council approves the Assembly of Experts candidates, who in turn elect the Supreme Leader.

[citation needed] Iranian reformists, such as Mohammad-Ali Abtahi have considered this to be the core legal obstacle for the reform movement in Iran.