Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Credit: Reuters Photo
Amid tumultuous relations with Israel and the intensifying threat of a middle east war, Iran is likely to see a major change in its leadership with reports of its supreme leader Ali Khamenei slipping into coma surfacing online.
As per a report in Mint, 85-year-old Khamenei has been seriously ill and a secret meeting was held last month to pick a successor for him.
Here is what we know so far:
- Despite no official confirmation, there have been reports that Khamenei has been in coma and Tehran has picked his second son Mojtaba Khamenei to succeed him.
- On September 26, Iran's Assembly of Experts met secretly after they were asked to immediately finalise a successor to Khamenei under strict confidentiality, as per media reports.
- Mojtaba, who is allegedly picked to succeed senior Khamenei is the second and the most politically prominent offspring of the supreme leader. He has reportedly been groomed to take step in his father's shoes and has been playing an important role in forming political decisions. As per a report in Iran International, Alireza Arafi who is the second deputy chairman of the Assembly of Experts, and Hashem Hosseini Bushehri, the first deputy chairman of the Assembly of Experts, are also in fray.
- It is noteworthy that despite the rumours of his illness, Abolhassan Mahdavi, the temporary Friday prayer leader in Isfahan clarified that there are no signs of illness in Khamenei and the discussions on Khamenei’s succession were triggered by the hovering threat to his life stemming from the fear of Israeli assassination.
- To put the rumours to rest, Khamenei's office released a picture of him meeting Iran's Ambassador to Lebanon on November 17.
This rumours come at a time when US envoy Amos Hochstein landed in Beirut on Tuesday for talks with officials on a truce between armed group Hezbollah and Israel, Lebanon's state news agency said, hours after a proposal drafted by Washington won a nod from the Iran-backed group.
The visit indicates progress in US-led diplomacy aimed at ending a conflict which spiralled into all-out war in late September, when Israel launched a major offensive against Iran-backed Hezbollah.
(With Reuters inputs)