*’Next Supreme Leader Must Be Someone Hated By America, Israel, Not Praised’
*Successor To Late Ali Khameinei To Be Announced Shortly, Partly In Bid To Marginalize President
*Israel Hands Death Threat To Whoever Succeeds Khameinei
As the war against the United States (US) and Israel enters its eighth day today, signs of an internal power struggle are beginning to emerge inside Iran.
Yesterday, President Masoud Pezeshkian on state TV apologized to the country’s Middle East neighbours over missiles fired by Iran into their territories, saying his country would no longer do so if those countries do not make themselves launchpads for US strikes against Iran.
He said Iran’s strikes were merely targeting American military bases in those nations.
Indeed, the President went as far as apologizing to the fellow Muslim nations for the actions in an apparent attempt to ease regional anger after Iranian strikes hit civilian targets in Gulf Arab countries.
“I personally apologize to neighbouring countries that were affected by Iran’s actions,” he said.
Pereshkian’s comments provoked a storm inside the country as the military appeared to contradict him, if not outright overrule him.
As he spoke, and even thereafter, more Iranian missiles rained on Bahrain, UAE, Kuwait and others in an obvious act of defiance by the military to the President’s stance and veiled order.
Furthermore, yesterday too, a video published on social media and obtained by BBC showed an apparent Iranian drone strike on the property of Dubai International Airport just as the UAE said it intercepted 15 Iranian ballistic missiles and 119 drones, same Saturday.
These were interpreted to mean that Pereshkian’s words carried little or no weight in the wider Iranian power equation stratosphere.
The creeping power disquiet in Tehran is coming on the heels of the absence of an overarching political-religious authority following the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameini by US and Israeli airstrikes on the first day of the war, penultimate Saturday.
Meanwhile, the clerical body that will announce Iran’s next Supreme Leader has more or less reached a majority consensus, Assembly of Experts member Ayatollah Mohammadmehdi Mirbaqeri said today.
Fifty-six-year-old son of the late Khameinei, Mojtaba, an unrelenting and unrepentant disciple of his father’s (and Iran’s) fundamentalist brand of Islamic practice, is widely known to be the favoured candidate, but some clerics are said to frown at a father-to-son succession, unknown to Iran since its 1979 Islamic Revolution which ousted the Shah.
The pro-government Mehr news agency quoted Mirbaqeri as saying “some obstacles” still needed to be resolved regarding the process.
On Saturday, a senior cleric in the Assembly of Experts said its members would meet “within one day” to choose the leader.
Trump,at the weekend, described Mojtaba as “unacceptable” to the US. He also sought a situation where he personally makes input in who succeeds the late Khameinei –a move completely rejected by the current Iranian temporary leadership, one of whom said no member of “Epstein’s gang” will determine the next Supreme Leader.
“Even the Great Satan (US) has mentioned his name,” said senior cleric and member of the assembly, Ayatollah Heidari Alekasir, of the chosen successor, after Trump said Mojtaba was an “unacceptable” choice.
Next Supreme Leader Must ‘Be Hated By The Enemy’
Two members of the assembly, Alekasir and Ahmad Alamolhoda, said the body had chosen a successor, according to Iranian media.
Alamolhoda said the head of the assembly’s secretariat, Ayatollah Hashem Hosseini Bushehri, is responsible for announcing the assembly’s decision.
Iranian media said the group had a minor disagreement,among others, over whether they would need to meet in person to issue their final decision, or bypass this formality.
Alekasir said in a video released by Nournews today that an in-person meeting was not possible under current war conditions, suggesting at remote and written alternatives.
“This is an extraordinary situation, the assembly cannot meet in a plenary,” he said, adding that targeting the assembly would only benefit Iran’s enemies and “harm the Revolution.”
Since the war began on 28 February, Israeli and US strikes have killed dozens of officials and commanders, including Ali Khamenei, with Iranian media reporting on Tuesday that strikes flattened an auxiliary building of the Assembly of Experts in the city of Qom.
Alekasir said the candidate had been picked based on the late Supreme Leader’s advice that Iran’s top leader should “be hated by the enemy” instead of praised by it.
Israel Warns It Will Pursue Next Supreme Leader
The Israeli military warned it would continue pursuing anyone named as Iran’s Supreme Leader.
In a post on X in Farsi, the Iranian language, Israeli military said it would also pursue every person who seeks to appoint a successor for slain Khamenei, referring to the clerical body charged with selecting Iran’s next Supreme Leader.
The comments came after Mehr news reported that the clerical body that will choose Khameinei’s successor has more or less reached a majority consensus.
*PHOTO CAPTION: The late Ayatollah Ali Khameinei.
