Iran Analysis: Twisting & Turning to Prove the Leader is Supreme (Verde)

On Wednesday we noted a speech by Ayatollah Jannati, the head of the Guardian Council, but our takeaway line was his "conspiracy theory" that the US and Saudi Arabia were paying $1 billion and putting up a bounty of another $50 billion for regime change in Tehran.

Mr Verde has gone through the speech and discovers that the bigger but untold story of Jannati's speech is even more interesting, given its connection with the Supreme Leader's "I am the Rule of the Prophet" fatwa:

There is a lot of mention of God in the speech, with the point being that God has saved the Revolution from its enemies. Jannati says, “God gave up Imam Khomeini” and adds later, “In the same way that he protected Moses from danger, God saved Imam [Khomeini] and the Revolution." He uses the example, "The events of Tabas [the site of the failed attempt by US forces to rescue the US Embassy hostages in 1980] which was help from God, showed that God himself is the protector of the Revolution and this invisible help has been a reoccurring theme in the history of the Revolution”.

Jannati then talks about the attempted assassination of Ayatollah Khamenei in the early 1980s  and says that although al the doctors and Khamenei himself did not believe that he would live, God saved him. He says, “At the time of the passing of Imam Khomeini, God delivered the position of the leader of the revolution to the Supreme Leader [Khamenei], and he was tasked by God to protect this revolution and this regime and to continue the path of [the first Shia] Imam Ali.

Jannati then links challenges past and present to show that God will ensure the Supreme Leader will overcome “in addition to the enormous sedition of 88 [post-2009 election protests], other seditions took place during the leadership of Grand Ayatollah Khamenei too which in some cases came close to overthrowing the regime, but the same God that was the protector of the Revolution in the events of Tabas [1980] again saved the Revolution."

Interpretation

1. Note Jannati's constant references to God's protection of the regime, intervening at time to save it. This could be a sign that regime officials are being forced to rely more on this claim and less on the reassurance that the regime is popular and upheld by the people. It is worth watching for signs of this in speeches by other officials.

2. Jannati uses the title “Grand Ayatollah” for Khamenei. This is not the first time this has occurred, but it may be relevant to the “I am the Rule of the Prophet” fatwa.

3. Jannati's statement that God delivered the leadership to Khamenei supports the Supreme Leader's claim in his fatwa that his authority is like that of the Prophet.

4. Jannati's reference to the post-election protests as “enormous sedition of 88” contradicts the main regime line is that the protestors were few in number and that there never was a crisis.

5. Note Jannati's revelations that the regime was on the brink of overthrow on several occasions during the leadership of Khamenei. As far as I know, this is the first time any regime official has even talked about the possibility of the toppling of the regime, yet alone speak of "several occasions" and linking this to post-election protests.

6. Jannati's proclamation of the $1 billion "regime change" payment and the promised $50 billion is even more ridiculous than his other declarations. Up to now such claims were about millions of dollars; now it seems the rates have risen sharply.

Comments

[Catherine]

Members of the opposition reacted to Jannati’s comments and called them “irresponsible.” Ali Shakuri-Rad, a former member of the Iranian parliament, told BBC Persian that, “Either Mr. Jannati does not know how much $50 billion is or he does not know other things,” implying that Jannati made a comment without knowing what he was talking about.
http://www.insideiran.org/media-analysis/jannati-the-u-s-paid-opposition-leaders-1-billion/" rel="nofollow">http://www.insideiran.org/media-analysis/jannat...

[دست و پا زدن ِجنتی « س‌ق]

[...] چه خوانديد ترجمه‌‌ اين مقاله [...]

[WitteKr]

Mehdi Karroubi strongly protested to the false accusations and unjust remarks made by Ahmad Janati (appointed chairman of the Guardian Council, the body that oversees the elections in Iran) in which he called the leaders of the Green Movement “heads of the intrigue” and shamelessly accused the Green leaders of receiving money from the United States government to create conspiracy following last year presidential election in Iran!
In an open letter Mehdi Karroubi addressed to Ahmad Janati, he wrote: “Some have become well-known for their hypocrisy, trickery, sham, killing, abusing religion and deceiving the faith and with no doubt if you are not one of the obvious examples of them, you are indeed someone who made this path clear for them to achieve their goals.”
In another part of this letter Mehdi Karroubi wrote: “If I am a conspirator because I object [to the rigged presidential election], then you are a partner of those who stole this nation’s vote and are disloyal to the nation, because the footsteps of your foolish acts are evident in the events that have happened both before and after the [presidential] election and unfortunately in every case you stood against the people and took side with the violent and oppressive movement.”

From Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/notes/mir-hossein-mousavi-myr-hsyn-mwswy/karroubiif-im-conspiratoryoure-partner-of-those-stole-peoples-votekrwby-bh-jntya/413249537605%3C/a" rel="nofollow">http://www.facebook.com/notes/mir-hossein-mousa...>

[Bozorg]

Jannati's admission that the regime was on the brink gives more credibility to the idea that the reformists intentionally hit the brakes on the movement's momentum to avoid such an event.

Reformist = collusionist