"The political right in this country say that the supreme leader is above the law, that he can change the law, that he can decree anything he feels is right. Those powers can cause a dictatorship," he told American author Robin Wright in a 2000 interview in Tehran. Khamenei argues that the Guardian Council's vetting of candidates threatens Iranian democracy. He believes that some reformist candidates are wrongly kept from running. In 1998, the Guardian Council rejected Hadi Khamenei's candidacy for a seat in the Assembly of Experts, allegedly for having "insufficient theological qualifications."