Prime ministership of Mir-Hossein Mousavi between Mousavi, who belonged to the left wing of the Islamic Republic, with Ali Khamenei (the current leader of Iran), who belonged to the right wing of the Islamic Republic, continued during their eight years of shared governance. However, an escalation in conflicts between the two led to Mousavi's resignation shortly after the end of the Iran–Iraq War in 1988. As the prime minister, Mousavi had the full backing of Ruhollah Khomeini, the supreme leader, and he refused to accept his resignation. Mousavi is remembered as leading a government that did not tolerate dissent. Mousavi's premiership coincided with the Iran–Iraq
2009 Iranian presidential election protests joining the Iranian global hunger strike reached over fifty with Toronto, Vancouver, Washington DC, Los Angeles, Chicago, London, as well as Italy, Australia, and Ireland. The hunger strikes are for freedom of all Iranian political prisoners and for "not" recognizing the presidential elections and its president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009. Robert Redford joined and supported the hunger strike in Washington on 20 July. BBC News has described the overall reaction by the international community to the 2009 Iranian presidential election as "muted". Mir-Hossein Mousavi has not asked for any kind of foreign assistance or called on other leaders to comment.