A member of the Assembly of Experts said regarding the possibility of Mojtaba Khamenei’s leadership: ‘Cross this issue out.’
Mahmoud Mohammadi Araqi, a member of the Assembly of Experts and the Expediency Discernment Council, said in an interview with ILNA news agency on Wednesday, March 9, that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of Iran, in response to the Assembly’s request to consider the leadership conditions of one of his relatives, said, ‘Cross this issue out.’
Regarding the speculations about the possibility of Mojtaba Khamenei, one of the sons of Iran’s leader, taking leadership, he told Iran’s Labor News Agency, ‘I heard that once during the time of the late Ayatollah Yazdi, since he was a member of the Article 107 and 109 commission which investigates and researches future leadership, there was apparently a discussion among the three-member committee about one of the leader’s children who is at a high academic level. This news reached the leader, and he forbade it, saying that what you are doing raises the suspicion of hereditary leadership, and therefore, he did not even allow an investigation.’
This member of the Assembly of Experts, which is responsible for choosing Iran’s future leader, further stated, ‘I heard in another instance that they sought permission from the Supreme Leader, asking if he would allow them to investigate a person related to him, to which he replied, ‘No, cross this issue out.’
The parliamentary and Assembly of Experts elections are set to take place on Friday, March 11, amidst predictions by analysts and surveys of low participation due to the lackluster election atmosphere, economic problems, and the socio-political conditions following last year’s protests.