Ayatollah Sayyid Ahmad Khatami is a hard-line cleric and a member of the Assembly of Experts. He has strong ties with the Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Although his name resembles that of Mohammad Khatami, the reformist former president of Iran, the two men are not related. In fact, they have opposite points of view on many issues, such as democracy in Iran.

In December 2005, he met with the Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to be appointed as Tehran’s substitute Friday prayer leader. "The spirit of Iran's response is 'yes' to logical dialogue without precondition. No one can talk to Iran with the language of threats," Khatami said during his Friday sermon broadcast on Iran's state radio.