The reform-minded president of Iran. Khatami led the Islamic Revolution (1979) that overthrew the US-backed Shah. He was elected (1980) to the first parliament of the Islamic Republic and served as minister of culture and Islamic guidance from 1983 to 1992. Khatami was elected president in 1997 with 69 per cent landslide and in 2001 he won second term as president. Muhammad Khatami was born in Yazd, a desert town in central Iran, the eldest son of a prominent ayatollah. As a teenager, he went to Qom, Iran's religious centre, to study under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.