Iran's Leader: Destroying the Guardian Council is Aligning with Enemies

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Wednesday, ahead of the elections for the Assembly of Experts and the Islamic Consultative Assembly of Iran, warned against what he termed 'foreign influence in elections' and the 'destruction of the Guardian Council.' He labeled the 'destruction of the Guardian Council and questioning its decisions' as a foreign plot ahead of the upcoming elections. The leader of Iran described the result of questioning the decisions of the Guardian Council as 'implying the illegality of the elections.' He further stated that those who undermine the Guardian Council within Iran are 'in harmony with the enemy.' According to Ayatollah Khamenei, 'When the illegality of the elections is implied, then the Islamic Consultative Assembly resulting from these elections and its decisions will also be illegal.' He continued by saying, 'Most of these individuals do not realize their statements and cannot be accused of treason, but they must understand that the result of this harmony completes the enemy's dangerous plan.' The Iranian leader also emphasized that 'Americans have been strongly opposed to the Guardian Council since the victory of the revolution.' Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, head of the Expediency Discernment Council, has been among the officials criticizing the performance of the Guardian Council in recent weeks following the disqualification of many candidates for the Assembly of Experts and the Islamic Consultative Assembly. Rafsanjani particularly criticized the members of the Guardian Council after the disqualification of Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of the founder of the Islamic Republic, from participating in the Assembly of Experts elections. Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, has also been among the critics of the widespread disqualifications of candidates for the Assembly of Experts and the Islamic Consultative Assembly, which mainly belonged to reformist political movements or those close to the government. In part of his remarks on Wednesday, the leader of Iran stated, 'I will not tire of speaking the truth,' emphasizing that 'the enemy seeks to exert influence in the elections.' This is not the first time in recent months that the leader of the Islamic Republic has used the term 'influence' and warned about it. Following the repetition of this term and the 'influence' project, political groups in Iran label their rivals as examples of the leader's statements, and in debates and political discussions in Iran, the influence project is attributed to political opponents. In this speech, the leader of the Islamic Republic also stated, 'From the very beginning of the victory of the Islamic Revolution, the foreign design was to prevent elections in Iran.' According to Ayatollah Khamenei, there were efforts [by foreigners] to prevent elections in Iran, but after they became hopeless, in recent years, they have focused on questioning the elections and want to exert influence in the elections. The leader of the Islamic Republic did not refer to specific examples of these efforts.