1.   By thwarting the elected Parliament, Khamenei mocks democratic principles and invites more radical challenges to clerical rule in the future.

2.   Depressed international oil prices, skittish foreign investors and years of economic mismanagement have brought hardship to poor and middle-class Iranians and sharpened criticism of clerical rule.

3.   That triumph has been widely seen as marking at least an implicit challenge to clerical rule.

4.   This class includes not only the traditional clerical elite, but also opponents of absolute clerical rule.

5.   A senior clergyman opposed to hard-line clerical rule in Iran has died of stroke, state-run Tehran television reported Tuesday.

6.   But he said the Islamic government did not see the vote as a rejection or protest against clerical rule.

7.   But he said the Islamic government did not see the vote as a rejection or protest to clerical rule.

8.   Clerical rule has led to competing secular and religious power centers.

9.   Montazeri was confined after he questioned the legitimacy of clerical rule, including the authority of supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

10.   Montazeri caused an uproar earlier this month when he questioned the legitimacy of clerical rule, which has led to competing secular and religious power centers.