This study offers an interpretation of the political battles that paved the way for reform in Iran. The author argues that these conflicts did not result from a sudden ideological shift; nor did the election of President Mohammad Khatami in 1997 really defy the core principles of the Islamic Revolution. To the contrary, the struggle for a more democratic Iran can be traced back to the revolution itself, and to the contradictory agendas of the revolution's founding father, Ayatollah Khomeini.