Ahmadinejad's "Passive Revolution"?

Juan Cole writes: "The Iranian 'president' is mostly powerless. The commander of the armed forces is the Supreme Jurisprudent, Ali Khamenei" ("Hitchens the Hacker; And, Hitchens the Orientalist; And, 'We don't Want Your Stinking War!'" Informed Comment, 3 May 2006). I've heard that before, but I wonder if it is still true or if it will be always true. Isn't what Ahmadinejad and his backers are trying to pull off a kind of "passive revolution" (cf. Antonio Gramsci): demote clerics without annihilating them?