Al-Jazeera.com :
Iranians are marking 24 years since the death of the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ruhollah Ayatollah Khomeini.
The commemoration on Tuesday at his shrine in Tehran was attended by Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, along with other high-ranking officials and clerics.
Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of the late Ayatollah, was due to address the crowd later in the day.
The commemoration comes 10 days before crucial presidential elections.
Khomeini is seen as the man who led the country’s Islamic revolution 34 years ago. After spending 15 years in exile, Khomeini returned to Tehran in 1979 to overthrow the US -backed Shah.
Al Jazeera’s Soraya Lennie, reporting from the Iranian capital, said Ahmadinejad did not address the crowd in the commemoration, an event at which he had spoken in previous years.
“It was a rather awkward encounter for the president. He looked very uncomfortable as he sat there in Imam Khomeini’s shrine,” Lennie said.
She said that reflected the growing tension between the presidency and the country’s religious establishment.
