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In a critical juncture for the clerical regime, on May 21, Mohammad-Ali Movahedi Kermani was appointed as the head of the Assembly of Experts, the body responsible for appointing the next Supreme Leader. According to the regime’s constitution, this assembly is tasked with overseeing the Supreme Leader’s performance, dismissing him if necessary, and selecting his successor. However, throughout its history, the Assembly of Experts has never criticized the Supreme Leader, has never presented a report on his performance, and has only praised Ali Khamenei. With no real oversight and after purging all dissenting members, the assembly’s true function is now solely to choose the individual who will take over after Khamenei’s death.
Ebrahim Raisi, a former head of the Judiciary and the regime’s president, died in a helicopter crash on May 19. Representing South Khorasan province in the Assembly of Experts, Raisi was seen as the most likely candidate to lead the assembly, especially with figures like Ahmad Jannati absent and former president Hasan Rouhani and former Chief Justice Sadeq Larijani eliminated.
During the session on Tuesday, Hashem Hosseini Bushehri and Alireza Arafi, heads of the country’s seminaries, were appointed as the first and second deputies of the Assembly of Experts, respectively. The assembly’s permanent board has seven members, including the president, two deputies, two secretaries, and two supervisors. The term for members is eight years, with 88 representatives in total.
Movahedi Kermani, born in 1931, is 93 years old. Like other deputies in the assembly, he has been a staunch ally of Khamenei for decades. An old member of the Islamic Republican Party, the first political organization of clerics after the 1979 revolution, he has been elected to the Assembly of Experts five times and has served in the parliament since the regime’s inception. His key roles in parliament have included heading the Internal Affairs Commission, leading the Defense Commission, and serving as the deputy speaker.
Khamenei’s Circle and the Complex Incoherent World of Iran’s Power Strainhttps://t.co/WZ6tJu2TdG
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Kermani is also a member of the Expediency Discernment Council and was the Friday Prayer leader in Kermanshah after the death of Ata’ollah Ashrafi Esfahani. From 1992 to 2006, he represented the Supreme Leader in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and was appointed as the interim Friday Prayer leader in Tehran in 2012 by the Supreme Leader.
A look at Kermani’s past actions and statements clearly illustrates why Khamenei chose him to lead the body that will determine his successor.
In January 2021, in an interview with the state news agency Mehr, Kermani supported Khamenei’s ban on COVID-19 vaccines from the U.S. and the UK, stating, “It is not unlikely that Americans would send fake vaccines to Iran under the guise of medical assistance, to take our money and then make our people sicker or kill them.”
On February 23, 2018, he praised the regime’s security forces for suppressing nationwide protests, saying during a Friday prayer sermon in Tehran, “We thank the prudent and wise actions of the security forces who wisely ended these riots. Security is not something that can be easily overlooked, and God willing, our honorable people will witness the decisive punishment of those who broke the law.”
Movahedi Kermani has also consistently aided Khamenei in eliminating “undesirable elements” within the regime.
On April 6, 2017, ahead of the sham presidential election, he attacked Hasan Rouhani during a meeting of Khamenei’s close allies, stating, “The president must be 100% obedient to the leader. Any harm to the state has been due to not fully adhering to the leader’s decisions and policies. The twelfth president must understand that the enemy is truly an enemy and thus should not trust the United States but rely on the country’s internal strength.”
Movahedi Kermani has also backed the regime’s plans to restrict internet access for Iranians.
On December 29, 2017, during a Friday prayer sermon in Tehran, he said: “China has thought about the polluted virtual space and put filters in place to prevent any thoughts opposed to their regime from entering. Look at what the Supreme Leader recently said about cyberspace; he said thousands of cannons are firing in cyberspace today. Given this situation, why should we let everything be open? Look at what they did during the 2009 riots, they insulted the blessed image of the Imam.”
In his first public appearance following #Raisi's helicopter crash, the Iranian regime's Supreme Leader, Ali #Khamenei, sought to prevent a morale breakdown among his forces and urged state officials to ensure that no unrest occurs. State media reported Khamenei speaking at a… pic.twitter.com/prfSKfe1dX
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) May 19, 2024
On June 22, 2018, Movahedi Kermani slammed those within the regime advocating for direct negotiations with the U.S., stating, “Those who still say maybe we can solve a problem by negotiating with America, hear these verses: You must be completely disgusted and repulsed by America. They have done nothing but commit crimes, nothing but oppression. They have not fulfilled any of their promises. They are only after their own interests… God shall help us; don’t be deceived by mere appearances!”
Following Khamenei’s failure to get Ebrahim Raisi elected as president during the 2017 sham elections, Movahedi Kermani said, “Maybe with a recount, Raisi’s vote would rise from 16 million to 19 million, and Rouhani’s would drop from 23 million to 21 million. Those who committed violations should know that there is an all-mighty eye above them, and they should not dare to repeat such actions.”
He also supported the crackdown on Iranian women to enforce mandatory hijab.
On July 14, 2017, during a Friday prayer sermon, he said: “The inside of a car is not a private space; it is a car that moves in the city, and everyone can see inside through the windows. The security forces should deal firmly with these individuals.”
