Iranian reformist leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi, who has been under house arrest for more than a decade, warned against the possibility of one of Ali Khamenei’s sons inheriting the position of the supreme guide – a move that he described as conspiracy.
In an article published by Iran’s Al-Kalima news website, affiliated with Mousavi, the leader pointed to rumors that Mojtaba Khamenei would inherit the position of his father.
Khamenei’s succession has raised controversy in Iran since 2005. But the issue has drawn particular attention after the current president, Ibrahim Raisi, entered the presidential race in 2017, which he lost in favor of his rival, Hassan Rouhani, before he repeated the attempt in 2021 to assume the position of head of the executive body, making him a serious candidate for the position.
A council of senior experts looks into naming the successor to the Iranian spiritual guide, in the event of his death or if he was unable to perform his duties. Supervising the performance of the leader is one of the functions of the council, which includes 88 senior and influential clerics.
Mousavi, his wife Zahra Rahnavard, and his ally Mehdi Karroubi have been under house arrest since February 2011, after they led the Green Movement protests, which questioned the validity of the elections that returned Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the presidency in 2009.
This is not the first time that the reformist movement in Iran has pointed to the role of the Iranian leader’s son in the ruling establishment, including elections or the possibility of him inheriting the position of his father.
In December 2018, Mehdi Karroubi sent a sharp message to Khamenei, asking him to assume responsibility for his actions over the period in which he served as Iran’s supreme leader.
