Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei opposed the idea of his son Mojtaba succeeding him, but Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) ultimately pushed the younger Khamenei’s name for the post after his father was killed in a US-Israeli airstrike on February 28, an Iranian report said. new york post.
The report said that Khamenei clearly expressed his opposition through his will. “In Khamenei’s will, he explicitly asked Mojtaba not to be named successor,” Khosro Isfahani, a journalist and research director at the National Federation for Democracy in Iran (NUFDI), told the American news outlet.
He said the late Iranian leader believed Mojtaba lacked the political experience and skills necessary to run Iran.
“Mojtaba is a helpless young cleric who has achieved nothing in political life,” Isfahani said. new york post“In these years he was nothing without his father’s name.”
Mojtaba was not initially chosen through Iran’s normal succession process, according to the report. The Assembly of Experts, the clerical body that elects the new supreme leader, came under heavy pressure from the IRGC during its deliberations.
“The assembly of experts that was supposed to elect Khamenei’s successor did not vote for Mojtaba,” Isfahani said, claiming the IRGC ultimately forced the decision.
“There was a lot of backlash against him, but under pressure from the IRGC, he was named as his successor,” said an anti-regime journalist.
His appointment comes amid heightened tensions in Iran following a Feb. 28 airstrike on Ali Khamenei that killed dozens of senior Iranian officials and brought Tehran into conflict with Israel and the United States.
Until his inauguration as Supreme Leader, Mojtaba had never held an official position in the Iranian government. He has been seen at loyalist rallies but rarely speaks publicly.
IRGC influence on succession
According to a senior Iranian source cited by the news agency: ReutersThe Revolutionary Guard viewed Mojtaba as a more conformist figure who would support their hardline agenda. Analysts and insiders say the cleric’s rise could strengthen the influence of paramilitary forces and force Iran to take a more hardline approach on domestic and foreign policy issues.
Two of the sources fear that the Islamic Republic could increasingly resemble a military state with thin religious legitimacy, weakening its already dwindling support base and leaving it less room to deal with complex threats. Reuters.
Mojtaba, who has managed his father’s office for years and built close relationships with Guard commanders, is seen by some observers as dependent on the military, raising questions about how independent he will exercise power.
The new supreme leader has not made any public statements since his appointment, nearly two days after a meeting of experts announced his selection. An anchor on Iranian state TV appeared to confirm widespread rumors that he had been wounded by describing himself as a “janbaz” or “wounded man” of the Ramadan war. This is the term Iran uses to address the ongoing conflict.
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(Includes comments from Reuters)
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