Doc7505
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- Feb 16, 2016
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Iran's Mullahs In Serious Power Battle with IRGC Over Nepo Babytollah
Confirmed: Iran's Mullahs In Serious Power Battle with IRGC Over Nepo Babytollah
Power struggle in Iran intensifies between Mullahs and IRGC over Supreme Leader succession amid political chaos.
hotair.com
Imagine all of this sturm und drang over someone who may not even be vertical and respiratory.
Ever since the death of Ali Khamenei in the opening seconds of the joint US-Israeli military action, Iran has technically been without a head of state. The Supreme Leader in Iran controls all policy and action, as well as commanding all of the armed forces of the Islamic Republic. Ali Larijani and Masoud Pezeshkian can issue orders while hiding in hospital offices, but they do not have the perceived divine and theological authority that the top mullah has in these systems, and that authority is everything. Like most dictatorships, any vacuum at the top becomes exponentially more problematic the longer it lasts.
Under these circumstances, one would have expected the mullahs in the Assembly of Experts to immediately declare a new Supreme Leader to take control. The IRGC certainly demanded that, and insisted that the council appoint Khamenei's son Mojtaba – and when that didn't happen immediately, the news agencies they controlled announced that Mojtaba got the job. Yesterday, however, the Assembly of Experts refuted that, and other state-controlled news services claimed that no decision had been made. It had the makings of a power struggle within the regime over control of the state. Did that belong to the mullahs or to the IRGC?
This morning, Reuters reports that the conflict has boiled over into public view, and that Nepo Babytollah may not be on the mullahs' bingo cards:
~Snip~
Let me point out at this time that no one has seen Mojtaba in public since the start of the war. It's not clear that he survived the strike on Khamenei's palace, which killed his father as well as Mojtaba's wife.
~Snip~
Mojtaba might be of more use to the IRGC dead rather than alive anyway. Their rush to force his appointment reflects their desire to control the throne. They groomed Mojtaba for that role and hoped to push him into it in a normal succession. In this crisis, they can use a dead man as a theocratic skin to legitimize a flat-out military junta. Even if Mojtaba is still alive, it's now clear that the mullahs see the same threat emerging from the IRGC.
~Snip~
If the IRGC seizes full power, that's a bad but temporary development. The IRGC is more vulnerable as an institution to outside destruction than a theocracy that claims a divine grant of authority. The abrupt shift from a "mission from God" to "we have the guns" regime will accelerate popular outrage and likely peel off competing armed forces, leading to a chaotic collapse. The IRGC wants Mojtaba as cover to claim both ... but even that won't last long, under the circumstances, and the mullahs clearly don't want to get cut out of power.
With all of this going on, it may not be much longer before the collapse comes. Let's hope that the Iranian people can seize that moment and take back their country and their destiny.
Commentary:
It was Bagdad Bob in Iraq. Do we call this guy Tehran Timmy?
Same bombastic lying and posturing, just a different address.
It seems inappropriate that the guy who supposedly has the divine right of succession has to be appointed by a Council of Experts.
This goes back to Shia vs Sunni schism, inherited rule or not. IGRC will have the last say, and they want Mojtaba because what they care most about is protecting their wealth and investments.
It’s increasingly unlikely the IRGC will have much military muscle left after nearly every tank, truck, aircraft, jeep, and trailer have been destroyed. There’s currently talk of bringing in B52’a to destroy IRGC formations and equipment in detail, now that we have complete air supremacy.
