Iran Analysis: Grand Ayatollah Golpayegani Criticises Supreme Leader? (and What Could It Mean?)

And now a report which may or may not be significant in Iran's evolving political struggle.

Very significant.

Yesterday I noticed an item on the opposition site Green Voice of Freedom: "Grand Ayatollah Safi [Golpayegan] to Supreme Leader: 'You have lost your earthly life, and I am concerned about your heavenly life'".

Iran Exclusive: The Plot to Remove Ahmadinejad, Act II

If true, that would be about the coldest and most direct slap-down a senior cleric could give Ayatollah Khamenei. He stands accused of failing --- through miscalculation or ineptitude --- to uphold both religious and political responsibilities in leading the Iranian people, to the point where he may not even be worthy of Allah's forgiveness.

And there is no doubt, from GVF's summary, that this negligence is linked to the post-election crisis. The website adds that Golpayegani recently refused to meet the President when Ahmadinejad came to Qom.

Could the report be true? It claims "informed sources". Those sources are unnamed, and I have yet to find a corroborating report.

However, one EA correspondent notes, "I know many of the senior clerics have similar criticisms of Khamenei." Another writes, "As long as no official denial is published, you can be sure that it is true. Safi Golpayegani has a perfectly run website (mostly Mosque news), and his adepts would have posted it."

Then there is the possible connection to the wider story that EA posted this weekend, "The Plot Against Ahmadinejad". In that analysis, we wrote that the backing of senior clerics was essential if the planners --- Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, top MP Ahmad Tavakoli, and Secretary of Expediency Council Mohsen Rezaei --- were to proceed. We added ,"No senior cleric has come out in public opposition."

Before posting the story, I asked a key EA source, "Which senior cleric would be most significant if he made a statement against the President?" The reply: "Safi".

Well, we now have a claim that "Safi" is pressing the Supreme Leader. It is too early to claim truth, yet alone assess impact, but this is potentially a big development for the "earthly life" of President Ahmadinejad as well as Ayatollah Khamenei.

Comments

[Catherine]

See also this paragraph of Muhammad Sahimi's article. Who's in Charge?", under the heading 'Frictions Begin to Emerge ':

In a completely unprecedented article (http://daneshtalab.com/post/8" rel="nofollow">http://daneshtalab.com/post/8) that appeared on the Daneshtalab website, the hardliners criticized Khamenei both for kissing Hassan Khomeini's face and sending the condolence messages. Remarkably, the anonymously written article criticizes Khamenei by name and refers to Ayatollah Khomeini only as the "former leader of the Revolution." It accuses Khamenei of preventing the uprooting of nepotism among the clerics, and mocks what is usually referred to as the Bayt-e Emam (the family of Ayatollah Khomeini), asking sarcastically, "Who are we referring to when we talk about Bayt-e Emam? It is now 21 years since he passed away. His wife passed away. He has no male child left. Even his chief of staff [Ayatollah Mohammad Reza Tavassoli, who died of a massive heart attack in 2008 while giving an emotional speech in defense of Ayatollah Khomeini to the Expediency Council] passed away. But, people are still hearing about Bayt-e Emam." Anyone who could post such a scathing attack on the clerical leadership must be linked with the highest levels of the security-military establishment.

[Rgrassroots]

All figments of someone's imagination or plots by foreign agencies. Continue believing this nonsense and that will be good for the Islamic Republic. The ulama have their differences but when push comes to shove, they will stand all together as they have always done to lead the ummah towards salvation.

[ScottLucas11]

Rgrassroots,

So you would say that Safi Golpayegani has not had any communication with the Supreme Leader in recent days? And what is your view of his meeting with Ali Larijani in June?

S.

[Bahman_Azad]

It has always been evident to most of us that clerics are like any other professional group. They have commonalities and differences. To lump them together as one monolithic mass works for Faux News but not real News.