Picture of Ayatollah Khomeini, from http://www.listal.com/viewimage/395420

Was Khomeini a dictator? The New Oxford American Dictionary defines a dictator as “A ruler with total power over a country, typically one who has obtained power by force” or “a person who tells people what to do in an autocratic way or who determines behavior in a particular sphere”. By those definitions, by the end of the Iranian revolution, he was. By the time the revolution ended, he was supreme leader within the government: everything went back to him, and he came as close to autocratic power as he could get.

On the other hand, he did not ask to be supreme leader. He asked to have his opinions heard, but he did not necessarily expect to be followed as a leader in the revolution. Does the possibility that he did not try to achieve dictator-like power in Iran effect whether or not he is a dictator?