Khamenei: There Should Be No Hesitation or Expediency in Choosing a Leader

On Thursday, March 20, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, met with members of the Assembly of Experts and regarded the public's participation in the recent elections as a sign of their trust in the system. He advised that in choosing the future leader, there should be no 'hesitation or expediency.' Khamenei emphasized that the Assembly's primary responsibility is to select his successor and urged them to set aside 'considerations, hesitations, and expediencies.' He recommended that the members choose his successor based solely on three principles: 'God, the needs of the country, and the principle of truth.' The Supreme Leader warned that 'if there is any negligence in this great responsibility, it will certainly cause problems for the foundation of the system and the country.' Khamenei is the second leader of the Islamic Republic, having been elected by the Assembly of Experts after the death of Ruhollah Khomeini on June 4, 1989. The Assembly of Experts is the only institution tasked with appointing and dismissing the leader according to the Islamic Republic's constitution. The fifth term elections of this Assembly were held on the 7th of this month. In these elections, Mohammad Yazdi, the current president, and Mohammad Taqi Misbah Yazdi, a prominent member of this Assembly, failed to secure a place in the upcoming term. Khamenei noted that 'there are some dignitaries whose election or non-election does not affect their character, and Yazdi and Misbah are among those individuals whose absence is a loss for the Assembly.' He also stressed that 'the election or non-election of certain individuals' in various elections is 'natural.' Another part of the Supreme Leader's speech was dedicated to defending the integrity of elections in the history of the Islamic Republic. Khamenei stated that the recent elections 'demonstrated the falseness and invalidity of the claims made by those who asserted the elections were invalid in 2009 and created that harmful sedition for the country.' He added, 'Just as the recent elections were healthy, previous elections, including those of 2009 and 2005, were also healthy.' Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi were two candidates who protested the results of the 2009 presidential election and led the subsequent protest movement. They, along with Zahra Rahnavard, Mousavi's wife, have been under house arrest without trial since winter 2010. On Thursday, the Supreme Leader also firmly defended the Guardian Council and criticized those who 'unintentionally follow the enemy and attack the Guardian Council,' stating, 'When the Guardian Council cannot verify the legal conditions in an individual, it cannot approve their qualifications, and this is not a flaw; it is acting according to the law.' Khamenei referred to the Guardian Council as 'one of the main centers of the Islamic Republic that has been under attack and destruction by imperialism since the beginning of the revolution' and asserted, 'Any destruction against the Guardian Council is an un-Islamic, illegal, un-Sharia, and un-revolutionary act.' The Supreme Leader made these remarks while Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the head of the Expediency Discernment Council, sat on his right, and Ahmad Jannati, the Secretary of the Guardian Council, sat on his left. Rafsanjani had recently made harsh attacks against the Guardian Council. Khamenei also once again referred to the issue of 'enemy infiltration' in elections and warned, 'The enemy's goal in designing infiltration among officials is to change the calculations of the country's officials.' This point was echoed two days earlier by a commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, who stated that the 'enemy' of the Islamic Republic is trying to attract officials to its side. Alireza Tangseiri, the deputy commander of the IRGC Navy, emphasized that the issue of 'infiltration' must be taken seriously, stating that the 'enemy' spends 'a lot of resources' to 'incline a specific class' of Islamic Republic officials towards itself.