Skip to main content

Home/ Geopolitics Weekly/ Group items tagged Ali Sistani

Rss Feed Group items tagged

Filter: All | Bookmarks | Topics Simple Middle
Pedro Gonçalves

Rafsanjani meets with high ranking clerics in Qom - Tehran Broadcast - 0 views

www.tehranbroadcast.com/i-meets-with-high-ranking.html

Iran Iran Assembly of Experts Qom Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani Ali Sistani

shared by Pedro Gonçalves on 23 Jun 09 - Cached
  • According to a report by the now-banned website Rooyeh.com, Hashemi Rafsanjani, the head of the Assembly of Experts, had meetings in the city of Qom, with some of the high ranking clerics including the plenipotentiary representative of Grand Ayatollah Sistani. The dates of the meetings are not specified
  • According to this report, an anonymous source claimed that Rafsanjani had reminded the Ayatollahs of how Ayatollah Khomeini managed such crises in the early days of the Islamic revolution. The source also claimed that half of the Assembly of Experts were supporting the idea of declaring a “leadership counsel” (instead of a one person leadership)
Pedro Gonçalves

American Thinker Blog: On Iran, look to Qom for the next breaking story (updated) - 0 views

www.americanthinker.com/...an_look_to_qom_for_the_ne.html

Iran Iran Assembly of Experts Qom Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani Ali Sistani Ali Montazeri Ayatollah Saanei

shared by Pedro Gonçalves on 23 Jun 09 - Cached
  • Estimates of police and Guards deployed range from 25,000 to 60,000 in Tehran alone. And the Basij were busy overnight, keeping the pressure on reformists by carrying off several high profile home invasions in richer neighborhoods while scouring hospitals for people injured during the clashes.
  • According to the source that asked to remain anonymous, during this meeting they recounted memories of the days of the Revolution. A reasonable purpose of these meetings, according to the source, is that Rafsanjani is looking for a majority to possibly call for Ahmadinejad's resignation.
  • Many of the Shiite clerics in Qom never embraced the idea of either a supreme leader or a central role for clerics in the new Islamic republic. Iran's revolution represented not just a political upheaval. It was also a revolution within Shiism, which for 14 centuries had prohibited a clerical role in politics. With clerics taking over government, many senior Shiite clerics feared that Islam would end up being tainted by the human flaws of the state.
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • Ayatollah Ali Montazeri, who was originally designated to become supreme leader until he criticized the regime's excesses in 1989, dismissed the election results and called on "everyone" to continue "reclaiming their dues" in calm protests. He also issued a warning to Iran's security forces not to accept government orders that might eventually condemn them "before God."
  • Others have also bestowed legitimacy on the protests. Grand Ayatollah Saanei -- one of only about a dozen who hold that position -- pronounced Ahmadinejad's presidency illegitimate.
  • Neither man weilds much political influence. But if Qom's clerical leadership calls on Khamenei to resign (thus delegitimzing his role as "Supreme Leader" even more), this would cause a crisis in government - a near civil war - as the clerical establishment would likely be ripped in two. It would paralyze the government and perhaps even split the security forces.
  • Because of that - and because many of the clerics in Qom have shown a great reluctance to involve themselves too heavily in politics - such a strong statement might not be forthcoming.
1 - 2 of 2
Showing 20▼ items per page