KHAMENEH'I IN THE EYE OF THE CYCLONE
By an IPS special Correspondent
TEHRAN 5 Apr. (IPS) "What is worrying the Iranians most is not Khatami being removed, even shot, but the physical elimination of Khameneh'i at the hands of the League of Islamic Associations (LIA, or Hey’at Mo’talefeh Eslami), the organisation that effectively control the present Iranian system from behind the scene", says a veteran Iranian journalist and political analyst who spent several months in jail, rubbing shoulders with dissident celebrities like former Interior Minister Hojjatoleslam Abdollah Noori, writer Akbar Ganji, journalists Baqi and Qoochani, etc.
"Khatami’s assassination would mean nothing, it might lead to some
protests, more outside than inside the country, and more isolation of the
Islamic Republic on the international scene, but killing Khameneh'i would
certainly lead to the removal of the regime’s façade, placing the people in
direct confrontation with the Mo’talefeh, better known as Feda’iyan Eslam,
or the Iranian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood", he says, adding:
"This is a very serious problem", referring to the eventuality of
Khameneh'i being assassinated.
The LIA, one of the oldest Iranian Islam-based terrorist organisation with experience in political assassinations, carried out under the former Monarchy but also after the victory of the Islamic revolution of 1979, has "infiltrated" all the key institutions and organs of the regime, including the powerful clerical establishment, the public media, the Revolutionary Guards and the secret services, but most importantly the economy.
The judges of the clerical courts, some of the commanders of the Revolutionary Guards, high-ranking officers of the secret services, editors to some hard-line publications etc. are appointed by Khameneh'i, but named by the Mo’talefeh, the source explains, citing former president Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani as the "Director" of the LIA.
"Consistent in its policy, the Mo’talefeh keeps its background firm. It is champion in political bargaining. It makes one step back in order to come forward two steps. It dances with Khameneh'i, sometimes even with Khatami, but at the end, it reaches its goals, knowing how to satisfy Khameneh'i ego through people it has placed in the leader’s office and acting as yes men for him", the source pointed out.
In his view, expressed during a private meeting with Iran Press Service and speaking on condition of anonymity, the reason the question of "eventuality" of the assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i has "surfaced" in upper echelons of the clerical-controlled establishment is his what the Mo’talefeh considers as a "declaration of independence" from the Organisation, to which belongs the great majority of senior actors of the Islamic Republic, including Mr. Khameneh’i.
Asked to give some example of this sign of "independence", the source cited his "soft line" towards the reformists, his closer "working relationship" with President Mohammad Khatami, described by the hard liners as the reformist’s "Trojan Horse", his recent outbursts against Ayatollah Mahmood Hashemi-Shahroodi (the Head of the Judiciary), as well aspects of his foreign policies considered as an "opening up" to the Great American Satan and its Arab "puppets".
"The war is not between reformists and conservatives, but among the conservatives themselves, between the leader’s people and the Mo’talefeh", the source adds.
"Khameneh'i, if he is intelligent, can win over the LIA provided he coalesce with Abdollah Noori, who presently, is considered by the people as the most popular and strong personality, with enough gut to stand to the hard liners", he speculated, adding that in case of a direct confrontation between the LIA and the people led by Noori, the hard liners can keep the power for sometime, but at the end they would be crushed. ENDS KHAMENEH'I AND LIA 5403