Report: Iranian officials preparing 'plots' to sideline Khamenei
A number of Iranian leaders, both civilians and those in government, are weighing options for shifting power away from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
“In the days leading up to the American intervention, a group of Iranian businessmen, political and military figures, and relatives of high-ranking clerics, two sources involved in the discussions told me, had begun hatching a plan for running Iran without Khamenei – whether in the event of the 86-year-old leader’s death or of his being pushed aside,” Arash Azizi of The Atlantic reported.
“Some of the military officials involved have been in regular contact with their counterparts from a major Gulf country, seeking buy-in for changing Iran’s trajectory and the composition of its leadership,” Azizi writes, adding that the sources he spoke to want former Iranian president Hassan Rouhani to be part of the new leadership.
According to the report, Khamenei could be “informally sidelined…by insiders who pressure or persuade him to pass real power to a temporary replacement.”
Azizi’s sources believe it unlikely that Iran’s Assembly of Experts will officially vote Khamenei out during this time, and contend that an informal sidelining is a more plausible route.
“Ours is just one idea,” one of his sources said. “Tehran is now full of such plots. They are also talking to Europeans about the future of Iran. Everybody knows Khamenei’s days are numbered. Even if he stays in office, he won’t have actual power.”
The All Israel News Staff is a team of journalists in Israel.
