Mir-Hossein Mousavi Warns of Conspiracy to Pass on Position of Iran Guide to Khamenei's Son

Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei delivers a speech on the occasion of Noruz, the Iranian New Year, in Tehran, March 20, 2022. (AFP)
Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei delivers a speech on the occasion of Noruz, the Iranian New Year, in Tehran, March 20, 2022. (AFP)
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Mir-Hossein Mousavi Warns of Conspiracy to Pass on Position of Iran Guide to Khamenei's Son

Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei delivers a speech on the occasion of Noruz, the Iranian New Year, in Tehran, March 20, 2022. (AFP)
Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei delivers a speech on the occasion of Noruz, the Iranian New Year, in Tehran, March 20, 2022. (AFP)

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.



Russia: Hypersonic Missile Strike on Ukraine Was a Warning to 'Reckless' West

Russian President Vladimir Putin makes a televised address, dedicated to a military conflict in Ukraine and in particular to Russia's launch of a hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile attack on a military facility in response to recent Ukrainian long-range strikes with Western weapons, in Moscow, Russia November 21, 2024. Sputnik/Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Pool via REUTERS
Russian President Vladimir Putin makes a televised address, dedicated to a military conflict in Ukraine and in particular to Russia's launch of a hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile attack on a military facility in response to recent Ukrainian long-range strikes with Western weapons, in Moscow, Russia November 21, 2024. Sputnik/Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Pool via REUTERS
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Russia: Hypersonic Missile Strike on Ukraine Was a Warning to 'Reckless' West

Russian President Vladimir Putin makes a televised address, dedicated to a military conflict in Ukraine and in particular to Russia's launch of a hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile attack on a military facility in response to recent Ukrainian long-range strikes with Western weapons, in Moscow, Russia November 21, 2024. Sputnik/Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Pool via REUTERS
Russian President Vladimir Putin makes a televised address, dedicated to a military conflict in Ukraine and in particular to Russia's launch of a hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile attack on a military facility in response to recent Ukrainian long-range strikes with Western weapons, in Moscow, Russia November 21, 2024. Sputnik/Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Pool via REUTERS

The Kremlin said on Friday that a strike on Ukraine using a newly developed hypersonic ballistic missile was designed as a message to the West that Moscow will respond to their "reckless" decisions and actions in support of Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was speaking a day after President Vladimir Putin said Moscow had fired the new missile - the Oreshnik or Hazel Tree - at a Ukrainian military facility.
"The main message is that the reckless decisions and actions of Western countries that produce missiles, supply them to Ukraine and subsequently participate in strikes on Russian territory cannot remain without a reaction from the Russian side," Peskov told reporters.
"The Russian side has clearly demonstrated its capabilities, and the contours of further retaliatory actions in the event that our concerns are not taken into account have been quite clearly outlined,” Reuters quoted him as saying.
Peskov said Russia had not been obliged to warn the United States about the strike, but had informed the US 30 minutes before the launch anyway.
President Vladimir Putin remained open to dialogue, Peskov said, but he said the outgoing administration of US President Joe Biden "prefers to continue down the path of escalation".
Putin said on Thursday that Russia had fired the new missile after Ukraine, with approval from the Biden administration, struck Russia with six US-made ATACMS missiles on Tuesday and with British Storm Shadow cruise missiles and US-made HIMARS on Thursday.
He said this meant that the Ukraine war had now "acquired elements of a global character".
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Russia's use of the new missile amounted to "a clear and severe escalation" in the war and called for strong worldwide condemnation.