[ad_1]
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 83, made his first public appearance on September 17 since falling ill earlier this month, which prompted a fresh round of questions about who might eventually succeed him. Among the favourites in the running are President Ebrahim Raisi and the Supreme leader’s son Mojtaba Khamenei.
The Ayatollah Khamenei appeared in public for the first time in two weeks on September 17 for a religious ceremony broadcast on Iranian state TV – showing no sign of fatigue as he addressed his audience with a firm voice.
The appearance followed rumours about Khamenei suffering from ill health, most notably a September 16 report in The New York Times saying Iran’s supreme leader had “canceled all meetings and public appearances last week after falling gravely ill and is currently on bed rest under observation by a team of doctors” citing people familiar with the situation.
Khamenei, 83, has had serious health issues in the past, including in 2014 when he was treated for prostate cancer.
The post of supreme leader is for life, and Khamenei’s health issues once again raise questions about eventual succession. The top job in Iran has changed only once – when Ayatollah Khomenei died in 1989 – since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
“The issue right now is how the political situation will be configured to ensure the best interests of the regime and the Islamic Republic’s stability,” said Jonathan Piron, a historian specialising in Iran at the Etopia think-tank in Brussels.
Backstage consultations
The Assembly of Experts, a group of 88 Islamic scholars in charge of many of the leadership issues for the Islamic Republic, is also responsible for selecting and – if necessary – firing Iran’s supreme leader. The experts are elected by universal suffrage but all candidates must be approved by the Guardian Council, whose members…
[ad_2]
Source : france24
