Background and Record of Mohammadi Kermani; Another Face of Gerontocracy in the Islamic Republic

Mohammad Ali Mohammadi Kermani, one of Iran's ultra-conservative clerics, has been elected as the Chairman of the Assembly of Experts for a two-year term. On Tuesday, May 23, he was elected as the head of the Assembly with 55 votes in favor from 83 members present at the first meeting of the sixth term of the Assembly. The presidency of this Assembly is significant in the current term as it is expected that, given the advanced age of Khamenei, who is currently 85 years old, the sixth term of the Assembly of Experts will have the important task of determining the next leader of the Islamic Republic. Mohammadi Kermani is primarily a symbol of gerontocracy in the political system of the Islamic Republic, especially in the Assembly of Experts. In closed political systems, gerontocracy typically arises due to the lack of freedom for political activities, especially party activities, and the absence of free and fair elections, allowing individuals who have been in power for years to remain influential. Before being elected as Chairman, Mohammadi Kermani had become the 'senior chairman' of this Assembly, meaning he is the oldest member of the current Assembly at 93 years old. Previously, Ahmad Jannati, who is now nearly 100 years old, was the Chairman of the Assembly. Ahmad Jannati, 98 years old, still serves as the Secretary of the Guardian Council, a sensitive and influential body in the Islamic Republic. He has held the position since 1992, significantly impacting the conduct of any elections in Iran. Mohammadi Kermani has been a member of the Assembly of Experts from the Kerman constituency throughout all terms of the Assembly. His continuous presence in the Assembly comes despite his claim a few years ago that the U.S. 'wants to infiltrate the Islamic Consultative Assembly and, if possible, the Assembly of Experts, and both infiltrations are very dangerous.' In recent years, the Guardian Council has prevented some figures from the new generation of the Islamic Republic, such as Hassan Khomeini, from entering the Assembly of Experts. There have been criticisms regarding the old age of the members of the Assembly, and if he lives, Mohammadi Kermani will be the Chairman of the Assembly at least until the age of 95. Mohammadi Kermani is also the head of the Combatant Clergy Association, one of the old political institutions of conservative clerics in Iran. The Combatant Clergy Association, which was previously known as the Combatant Clergy Association of Tehran, was established in the 1970s, a few years before the victory of the Iranian Revolution. Mohammadi Kermani was the top candidate of the Combatant Clergy Association for the Assembly elections. Fazlollah Mahallati was the first secretary of the Combatant Clergy Association, and before Mohammadi Kermani, Mohammad Reza Mahdavi Kani served as the secretary of this political organization until 2014. After Mahdavi Kani's death, Mohammadi Kermani succeeded him without any opposition. Despite his closeness to Khamenei and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, he also had good relations with Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. In 2015, when the Society of Teachers removed Rafsanjani's name from their list for the Assembly elections in Tehran, Mohammadi Kermani, on behalf of the Combatant Clergy Association, sent a letter to Rafsanjani introducing him as 'their endorsed candidate from the Tehran constituency for the Assembly of Experts elections.' In this letter, Mohammadi Kermani emphasized Rafsanjani's 'scientific, ethical, political, and social' backgrounds. During the sixth term Assembly elections, Mohammadi Kermani was also the top candidate of the Combatant Clergy Association. Mohammadi Kermani has served in the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth terms of the Islamic Consultative Assembly from the Tehran, Rey, Shemiranat, and Islamshahr constituencies. During his tenure in the Assembly, he held the presidency of the Internal Affairs Committee, the Defense Committee, the Executive Committee of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, and served as the Deputy Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly. Mohammadi Kermani is also a member of the Expediency Discernment Council. In 2016, he chaired the first meeting after Rafsanjani's death, indicating his influence in this council. In this position, he opposed the approval of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) bills. Four years ago, towards the end of Hassan Rouhani's presidency, Mohammadi Kermani emphasized that there would be no change in the fate of these bills and that requests for re-examination of these bills would 'face opposition from the members of the council.' Opponents of the approval of these bills in the Iranian government argue that if they are approved, Iran's financial support to affiliated militia groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon will face difficulties. The Financial Action Task Force has placed Iran back on its blacklist due to the Islamic Republic's refusal to approve some of these bills, granting all countries the authority to act independently in financial transactions with Iran. Thus, any country can take independent action to safeguard its banking system from the risk of involvement in money laundering and financing terrorist activities through transactions and Iran's banking system. In the 1980s, Mohammadi Kermani served as the Friday Prayer Leader of Kermanshah and in 2012, he was appointed as the temporary Friday Prayer Leader of Tehran. In this position, he has repeatedly made controversial statements and emphasized the hardline positions of the Islamic Republic in various areas. For example, in 2018, Mohammadi Kermani addressed the officials of the Islamic Republic during Friday prayers in Tehran, asking, 'Why has the localization of cyberspace not been implemented?' He claimed that 'continuing the operation of the Telegram messenger, which leads to foreign domination, is forbidden according to the explicit words of the Quran.' Mohammadi Kermani identified 'disruption of national unity, creating divisions among social classes, foreign access to the country's information, dissemination and trade of obscene content, insults to sacred and Islamic values, spreading lies, and disturbing public opinion' as some of the 'damages of Telegram.' Mohammadi Kermani has been a supporter of Khamenei and close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. After the Iran-Iraq War, he served for 14 years as the representative of the Supreme Leader in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps until 2005. His closeness to security forces, especially the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, seems to have played a significant role in his enduring power. Additionally, his proximity to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps can be linked to his position at the head of the Assembly of Experts. Some political observers believe that since the Supreme Leader also holds the position of Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, the successor to Ali Khamenei will not be chosen without the agreement of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Furthermore, Mohammadi Kermani has repeatedly supported Khamenei in recent years and attacked his critics. For instance, in 2016, the temporary Friday Prayer Leader of Tehran defended the prosecutor's order in Mashhad to prevent the speeches of Ali Motahari, the then Vice President of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, stating that mouths should be 'shut' in front of the Supreme Leader. At that time, Ali Motahari was one of the few figures associated with the principlists who had openly criticized some of Khamenei's decisions, and the prosecution took such action to 'prevent crime.' The Assembly of Experts is responsible for appointing and dismissing the Supreme Leader and monitoring the Supreme Leader's ability to perform his duties. The election of a pro-Khamenei figure as the head of this Assembly comes at a time when the Assembly has yet to provide any report on the performance of the Supreme Leader and has only praised Ali Khamenei's performance.