Iran’s Supreme Leader Tightens Grip After Disqualifying Two Top Presidential CandidatesFor the cleric who runs Iran, there’s no such thing as a pleasant surprise, especially on election day. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was not pleased when a librarian named Mohammad Khatami was swept into the president’s office in 1997, leading a wave of reformists who challenged the status quo in which Khamenei, as the unelected Supreme Leader of the Revolution, was most heavily invested. In every election cycle since, the self-appointed portion of Iran’s government has done all it can to winnow the choices placed before Iranian voters. …