Iran Analysis: Supreme Leader Compromises with the Clerics (Azadi)

Mr Azadi, using sources in Iran, evaluates the latest developments in the Supreme Leader's nine-day mission in Qom to get clerical support for his authority:

So how did Ayatollah Khamenei finally get his meetings and photographs with some but not all maraje (senior clerics) and Grand Ayatollahs?

The answer lies in the conditions that the majority of those maraje set for visiting the Supreme Leader. These conditions were set out to him first by some members of Jame Modaresin (Society of Teachers and Researchers of Qom) and then by Ayatollah Javadi Amoli and Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi:

1. Prevent any interference from Government, especially the Supreme Leader, in running the howzahs (seminaries), maintaining the independence of the howzahs. [Editor's Note: Khamenei's website had published a plan for the restructuring of the clerical institutions.]

2. Control and punish those pro-Khamenei young clerics who insult or carry out extreme action against marajes. [Note this summer's attacks on the homes and mosques of Ayatollahs such as Sane'i, Dastgheib, and the late Grand Ayatollah Montazeri.]

3. Control governmental figures that who insult clerics and, with their actions, ignorethe  maraje’s role in the Islamic Republic. For example, President Ahmadinejad had acted without respect towards towards Hashemi Rafsanjani and Nategh Nouri and dismissed maraje advice on female ministers and cultural and economical issues, and his key advisor Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai had belittled Islamic teachings. 

The Supreme Leader in his speeches mentioned all or some parts of the above points, and some clerics who are close to Khamenei's office emphasised them to the assure maraje that their words are respected and are not ignored. For instance, there was Hojatoleslam Navvab’s speech this weekend warning extremist young clerics to show respect for maraje and the interview of Ayatollah Ka’abi’s interview with Khamenei.ir, published in most Iranian media. 

But what about Grand Ayatollah Safi Golpayegani's belated agreement to see the Supreme Leader, with the meeting finally taking place on Friday? The key here was the intervention of Ayatollah Shobairi Zanjani, who lobbied for the encounter to occur.

That, in itself, holds a lesson. Ayatollah Shobairi Zanjani is far from a supporter of the government, having criticised it on many occasions, and he was a close friend of Grand Ayatollah Montazeri, despite his opposition to the regime. He has also been the teacher of Ayatullah Khamenei’s sons in Qom. With this position, he was able to lift the attack on Montazeri's house this summer.

The Supreme Leader is not imposing his authority but having to manoeuvre for it. That in turn means compromise and, perhaps most importantly, recognition of senior clerics who felt they were being sidelined and/or stigmatised by the regime. 

So to the next stage, after Khamenei returns from Qom. Given that many of the maraje are hostile to the current Government, what will the Supreme Leader do?