The most dangerous man in the world

Mojtaba Khamenei, one of the candidates to succeed his father as Iran’s supreme leader, is not a reformist. Without religious credentials, considerably more violent and more ideological than his father, he is “the most dangerous man in the world”.

Iran continues to not formally announce the identity of its new supreme leader — which will be immediately, according to the Israeli Defense Minister, Israel Katz“an unequivocal target to shoot down”.

Most likely, Iran’s Assembly of Experts, charged with nominating the country’s supreme leader, postpone the announcementto consider the best way to protect the life of the chosen one and prepare a succession without any surprises.

The choice the body makes will determine much of Iran’s future as a theocratic state, says author and expert on Islamic affairs Graeme Woodin an article no.

Until now, the most mentioned name has been that of Mojtaba Khamenei56 years old, who presents his resume in ancestry: he is son of Ali Khameneiwho governed Iran from 1989 until his death a week ago, in the joint US and Israeli operation,

Some have suggested that Mojtaba could be a modernizing autocrat, ready to consolidate power with brutality, but also to introduce reforms long needed.

This is pure fantasysays Graeme Wood.

Last month, still before the start of the waran acquaintance of Mojtaba described him to Wood as being “the most dangerous man in the world” and considerably more violent and more ideological than his father.

There is one thing that Mojtaba is not: a religious scholar fit to lead a country whose founding revolutionary purpose determined that the State would be under the total authority of the most distinguished jurist Shia.

When he was appointed, Ali Khamenei also fell short in this regardbut not as much as Mojtaba. At the time, it had the status of hojjat al-Islaman intermediate status jurist, one rank below ayatollah.

By elevating Ali to supreme leader, the Assembly of Experts at the time overrode Hussein-Ali Montazeri, a renowned ayatollah whose academic stature surpassed that of Khamenei, but who had meanwhile fallen out of favor with the regime. Mojtaba studied religion, but is not even hojjat al-Islam.

Very few clerics expressed deference to Ali Khamenei on matters of Islamic law at the time he came to power. And these days, absolutely no one wants to know what their son has to say on these topics.

Many fear Mojtaba, but they fear him for his secular power. In US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks, Iranian sources complained 18 years ago that Mojtaba had become too powerful and managed his father’s office, Wood highlights.

Being the son of the previous leader is, if anything, a disadvantage. The Islamic Revolution that overthrew the shah ridiculed the idea of ​​hereditary succession and boasted that only erudition, religious meritdetermined the choice of leader.

“Children do not succeed their parents”, the historian told Wood before the war. More Lithuaniak. “Appointing Mojtaba would violate this taboo.”

Litvak suggested that the Islamic Republic could bypass the taboo appointing one Ayatollah ninety-year-old and decrepit to occupy supreme leadership for a couple of years and then let Mojtaba take over.

In fact, says Wood, maybe none of this mattersbecause whoever leads Iran next can have a life expectancy measured in weeksor even in days.

But someone’s appointment without any religious credentials would be a final act of self-delegitimation for a regime that already lacks legitimacy in the eyes of most Iranians, concludes Graeme Wood.