Iran’s Guardian Council announced the resignation of its prominent member, Sadeq Larijani, a few months after he criticized the 12-member body for excluding the candidacy of his brother, Ali Larijani, from presidential elections later won by Ebrahim Raisi.
Ali Larijani had served as parliament speaker in Iran.
In a decree on Saturday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei assigned a cleric, Hosseini Khorasani, to replace Larijani.
Khorasani is one of the six Guardian Council jurists that Khamenei named. The Chief Justice selects the other six members.
The Guardian Council supervises the laws and decisions issued by the Iranian parliament and vetting the applications of candidates for presidential and parliamentary elections.
Also, it is considered one of Khamenei’s most significant arms in national politics. But the Guardian Council’s interference in legislative and presidential elections usually draws sharp criticism.
In the latest round of presidential elections, it slashed the candidacy of rather popular officials like Larijani’s brother and Eshaq Jahangiri, the former vice president of Iran.
Larijani had protested strongly against the rejection of his brother’s candidacy application and published a series of tweets in which he accused security services of being behind disqualifying the former parliament speaker from the presidential race.
However, he later rolled back from his statements.
Guardian Council spokesperson Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei said that Larijani had received a warning over his controversial tweets.
Today, Larijani chairs the Expediency Discernment Council, an administrative assembly appointed by the Supreme Leader.
More so, Larijani’s tenure as the Chief Justice of Iran ended on March 7, 2019, when Khamenei appointed Ebrahim Raisi to succeed him.
Many observers anticipate what the future holds for the Larijani brothers, especially next year when the new members of the Expediency Council are named.
