The Guardian has an intriguing story this morning alleging that Mojtaba Khamenei, the supreme leader's son, has taken control of the Basij militia.
[A source] said Mojtaba had played a leading role in orchestrating Ahmadinejad's disputed election victory on 12 June and had led the backlash against protests through direct control of street militias, known as basiji.
[...] "Mojtaba is the commander of this coup d'etat. The basiji are operating on Mojtaba's orders, but his name is always hidden in all of this. The government never mentions him," the Iranian politician said. "Everyone is angry about this. The maraji [Iran's most senior ayatollahs] and the clerics are angry, the conservatives are very angry and strongly critical of Mojtaba. This situation cannot continue with so many people on the top against it."
A striking allegation -- but let's put it in context.
The story is based on a single source, and one that appears to be anti-Khamenei. That does not necessarily discredit the story -- but remember that this source has an incentive to discredit the ayatollah. So when it talks about a deepening divide among the clerics, I think we can conclude it is overstating the case somewhat.
And we already knew the broad outlines of this story -- that Khamenei is losing support from Iran's conservatives. Rafsanjani has generally been critical of Khamenei; so has Mohsen Rezai, at least for the first few weeks after the election. Even Larijani has wavered in his support for the regime -- though I think the Guardian's source overstates the depth of Larijani's opposition.
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Categories: Iran, Iranian Elections (2009), Politics, Regional News
Tags: Ali Larijani, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Mohsen Rezai, Mojtaba Khamenei
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