Ahmad Khatami: Reformists Will Not Become a Powerful Minority in the Assembly of Experts

A member of the Assembly of Experts leadership says that reformists will not succeed in forming a powerful minority in the next term of this assembly, which, according to him, will remain 'Wilayat' (Islamic governance). Ahmad Khatami, in an interview with Fars News Agency on Friday, February 24, responded to a question about the 'onslaught of reformists' against the Assembly of Experts, stating: 'It is interesting that they weaken the Assembly of Experts while they are trying to take it! I assure you that the Assembly of Experts has been and will remain Wilayat.' He added: 'Of course, they themselves admit that they cannot take the majority of the Experts. They say they need a powerful minority... I say they will not even reach an anti-Wilayat minority in the Experts.' In recent months, with a year to go before the Assembly of Experts elections in Iran, some conservative clerics and close associates of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, have warned about the efforts of reformists and individuals close to Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani to participate in the upcoming elections for the Assembly of Experts. Ahmad Jannati, the Secretary of the Guardian Council of Iran, warned on Friday, January 19, that 'some are thinking of seizing the Assembly of Experts,' stating that 'enemies' want a leadership for the Islamic Republic that is also approved by them. Mohammad Momen, a member of the Guardian Council, also threatened in August that some current members of the Assembly of Experts would not be approved for the upcoming elections. Meanwhile, the newspaper Javan reported on August 1, quoting Abolghasem Khazaeli, a member of the Assembly of Experts, that 'Hashemi's plans for the Assembly of Experts will not be realized.' This newspaper emphasized that Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani 'has tasked a team to select and coordinate individuals who think like him to run for the Experts, and he has also told them that if they can turn into a majority in the Experts, he is willing to come and become the president of the Assembly.' In recent months, the election of the president of the Assembly of Experts has also made headlines. Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani announced that if 'unfit' individuals run for the presidency of the Assembly of Experts, he will also run. Some media outlets have mentioned, in addition to Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Ahmad Jannati, the Secretary of the Guardian Council, Mohammad Yazdi, the head of the Society of Teachers of Qom Seminary, and Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, the first vice president of the Assembly of Experts, as potential candidates for the presidency of the Assembly of Experts. According to reports, the elections for the leadership of the Assembly of Experts will be held in the assembly's session in Esfand this year. Mohammad Reza Mahdavi Kani, the former head of the Assembly of Experts, passed away on October 21 after nearly five months in a coma. 'There is no oversight over the leadership in the Constitution.' Ahmad Khatami, in another part of his remarks, said: 'There is no oversight over the leadership in the Constitution, and the main point is to ensure the continuity and conditions of leadership.' He added: 'If that were the case, there would certainly be a regulation for oversight over the leader in the Constitution.' This member of the Assembly of Experts announced that an institute called 'Rahbar' in the office of the Supreme Leader is responsible for auditing the institutions under the supervision of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Ahmad Alamolhoda, the Friday prayer leader of Mashhad, in response to critical remarks by Ali Motahari, a member of parliament, about the lack of oversight by the Assembly of Experts over Ayatollah Khamenei and the institutions under his supervision, indirectly confirmed this statement, stating that members of the Assembly of Experts cannot oversee the performance of 'their leader.' Mr. Motahari stated in Mashhad: 'We do not have critical figures in the country. The duty of the Experts is to oversee the performance of the leadership. They interfere in every issue except their own work. Have they ever overseen the subordinates of the leadership? The Executive Headquarters of Imam's Command has turned into an economic cartel and is building towers... Have they overseen this?' 'House arrest is not a bed of roses, but it is not prison either.' Ahmad Khatami, regarding the house arrest of Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, two candidates protesting the results of the 2009 presidential election, said: 'While the law allowed them to be imprisoned for the crimes they committed, their backgrounds were considered, and they were only placed under house arrest. Of course, house arrest is not a bed of roses, but it is not prison either.' He denied any disagreement among members of the Assembly of Experts regarding the protests of 2009, stating: 'Only one person from the Experts objected to this, and he was expelled from the Experts... Twenty-some signed a letter to expel this gentleman, but the leadership kindly asked the Experts not to let this happen.' Ayatollah Ali Mohammad Dashti, a religious authority and representative of Fars province in the Assembly of Experts, faced severe backlash from conservatives for his support of the 2009 protest movement, including repeated assaults by forces known as plainclothes agents on Qoba Mosque in Shiraz, where Mr. Dashti is the prayer leader. Meanwhile, several members of the Assembly of Experts have also called for Ayatollah Dashti's expulsion from this assembly, with some conservative-affiliated media reporting that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei opposed this action. Nevertheless, Mr. Dashti has not participated in the Experts' meetings in recent years, explaining that due to the confrontations he and his supporters have faced, he no longer feels obligated to do so.