Many among wishful thinkers believe that the newly installed president of Iran, Masoud Pezeshkian, is a “moderate” or “reformist.” Like all of his predecessors, Pezeshkian is nothing more than a puppet of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Ayatollah Khamenei. Pezeshkian has virtually admitted this as he explains how he selected his cabinet, as the selections weren’t really his choice. The president of Iran is merely a functionary of the Supreme Leader.
“Iran’s president reveals Supreme Leader’s control over new cabinet,” Iran International, August 21, 2024:
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian acknowledged that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei directly intervened in selecting key members of the new government. The entire cabinet was unanimously approved by parliament on Wednesday.
“I invited [Abbas] Salehi (the proposed minister for culture), but he kept refusing. When I told Khamenei that Salehi wouldn’t come, he picked up the phone and told me to tell him to accept,” Pezeshkian confessed. The admission revealed the control the Supreme Leader exercises over the supposedly independent branches of government in Iran, where loyalty to Khamenei trumps any other metric for government selection process, eclipsing merit-based selection.
The parliament, which many view as a mere formality, voted to confirm all 19 of Pezeshkian’s proposed ministers on Wednesday. The votes were overwhelmingly in favor, with figures like Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh winning 281 and Education Minister Alireza Kazemi and Communications Minister Sattar Hashemi receiving as many as 268 and 264 votes out of a total of 290, respectively. Even the least supported nominee, Mohammad Reza Zafarghandi for Health Minister, still secured 163 votes.
Pezeshkian also revealed that ministers like Abbas Araghchi (Foreign Affairs) and Farzaneh Sadegh (Roads and Urban Development) were personally vetted and endorsed by Khamenei.
“I gave the entire list to Khamenei. Everyone came with coordination and consensus,” Pezeshkian admitted….
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Initially when I read “Khamenei’s will” in the above headline, I thought he had died. He is 85
If there are any more jihad act by Iran, whether against Israel or the US, I do hope he’s taken out. Maybe like Ismail Haniyeh