IRAN: Khomeini grandson disqualified, power struggle intensifies at top levels

NCRI - After two weeks of intense power struggle within the highest ranks of the Iranian regime, the Guardian Council conclusively rejected the competence of Seyyed Hassan Khomeini, for membership in the Assembly of Experts, a pillar of the regime founded by his grandfather based on Velyat-e faqih (absolute rule of clergy) to supposedly monitor the conduct of the supreme leader.

“His Ijtihad [an Islamic term meaning independent reasoning] fell short of the point to deduce some juridical issues and be able to recognize a vali-e faqih (supreme leader) that is competent to lead,” declared the Guardian Council, .state-run news agencies reported on Wednesday.

This is despite the fact that many renowned clerics within the establishment and regime officials had suggested Hassan Khomeini’s competence be confirmed.

Meanwhile, a judicial member and spokesman of the Guardian Council, distanced himself from the purging of the candidates, saying: “I have no information on the quantity and quality of the assessment of competencies of the candidates of the Assembly of Experts” and “if in the future his honor [Ahamd Jannati, Secretary of Guardian Council]… specifies the yardstick used to measure the competencies in the assembly of 12 [Guardian Council has 12 members], I will then offer that information to the media as much as I would know”.

Previously, the Guardian Council had rejected the competence of most candidates for the parliament and the Assembly of Experts from Ali Akabr Hashemi Rafsanjani and Hassan Rouhani faction. As such, by removing the rival factions, the power struggle and the deadly internal crisis at the top of the religious fascism ruling Iran takes on an unprecedented dimension weakening the regime in its entirety.

At the same time, attacks by Ali Khamenei's faction against Rafsanjani have intensified.

On February 5, a number of the mullahs in Khamenei's faction carried a large placard in the city of Babak in Kerman after the Friday prayers which read: “We demand that the Special Court for Clerics tries Rafsanjani for ‘corrupting the earth’.”

On February 1, on the anniversary of Khomeini’s return to Tehran from Paris, in a ceremony at the Tehran Airport where a large number of regime’s leaders were present, Rafsanjani chastised rejection of Hassan Khomeini’s candidacy. “They do not approve the competence of an individual that is like his grandfather who was the Imam. Who has approved your own competence?!” he said.

He described Khamenei's supporters who own the “guns”, the “Friday prayer lecterns”, and the “radio and television” as a “minority that enjoys the support of powerful institutions, but the majority of people do not support them”. He went on to add: “If a time comes where the differences deepen, then we should not expect the persistence of the revolution or even Iran.”

In the recent days, in reaction to Rafsanjani’s remarks, the elements, organs, publications and news media outlets affiliated with Khamenei have tagged the signing of the JCPOA and the nuclear deal as treachery; thereby, questioning the “integrity” of Hassan Rouhani and Ali Akbar Rafsanjani.

The elimination of the rival faction’s candidates on the eve of the election charade reflects an unbridled internal power struggle at the highest ranks of the regime. Such undertaking will create dangerous threats to the regime in its entirety.

In an attempt to overshadow the crisis, Ali Khamenei, the regime’s supreme leader, has resorted to muscle-flexing measures that include holding military exercises, missile maneuvers, and ramping up support for Bashar Assad that has resulted to more brutal massacre of the Syrian people.