Prime ministership of Mir-Hossein Mousavi Prime ministership of Mir-Hossein Mousavi Khamenei was a key figure in the Islamic revolution in Iran and a close confidant of Ayatollah Khomeini. Khomeini appointed Khamenei to the post of Tehran's Friday prayers in the autumn of 1989, after forced resignation of Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri from the post, when he criticised Khomeini for torture of prisoners. He served briefly as the Deputy Minister for Defence and as a supervisor of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards. He also went to the battlefield as a representative of the defense commission of the parliament. In June 1981, Khamenei narrowly escaped an assassination attempt
History of the Islamic Republic of Iran parliament. Despite high turnout and large enthusiastic crowds for reformist opponent Mir-Hossein Mousavi, Ahmadinejad was officially declared to have won by a 2–1 margin against three opponents. Allegations of voting irregularities and protest by Mousavi his supporters were immediate and continued off and on into 2011. Some 36–72 were killed and 4000 arrested. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei declared Ahmadinejad's victory a "divine assessment" and called for unity. He and others Islamic officials blamed foreign powers for fomenting the protest. However, by late 2010 several sources detected a "growing rift" between Ahmadinejad, and Khamenei and his supporters, with talk of impeachment