Experts Assembly Continues to Approve of Khamenei

The Experts Assembly on Leadership held its concluding session last Wednesday with President Hassan Rowhani’s remarks about the situation in the region, foreign policy and international sanctions against Iran. The shadow of Iran’s military heavily hung over the two-day gathering in the former Majlis building, an event that takes place twice every year.

Conditional Endorsement

The first sitting of the gathering began with the remarks of ayatollah Mahdavi Kani, its chairman who 3 years ago replaced Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. Making a reference to the June 2013 presidential elections that ushered in Hassan Rowhani, Kani said people participated to elect their president with “grandeur and seriousness.” Based on what has been reported by news agencies, most of Kani’s remarks were about the elections and the position of the Experts Assembly regarding the president. Rafsanjani decided not to run in the last elections to the presidium of the Assembly three years ago when pressure by supporters of then-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad were at their height against him.

“We may have not voted for him (Hassan Rowhani) but he remains the president for all of us and just as the supreme leader said during the endorsement (of Hassan Rowhani) ceremony this endorsement is not absolute, our congratulations are requests from the president bear conditions too,” Kani said.

While he did not describe what those conditions are, he did say that the congratulatory message came with “requests” that the members of the Assembly had from the new president. He also pointed to the “many problems” and said that when a person accepts this responsibility, “he is in fact has accepted to deal with these problems, as God has promised that when we tolerate problems there will be success for us.”

Rowhani’s Late Arrival

News agencies reported that Rowhani, who is himself a member of the Experts Assembly that oversees the work of the supreme leader and constitutionally elects a new one, came to the session late as Kani had already begun his inaugural address. This made Kani repeat parts of his remarks that were directly addressed to the president.

According to Mehr news agency, the minister of intelligence left the main chamber as soon as Rowhani arrived and went to receive him. Upon entering the Assembly chamber, Rowhani sat next to Hashemi Rafsanjani, the head of the State Expediency Council, after which the two men greeted and chit chatted together.

Rowhani: War is the Main Reason for Problems

Rowhani’s remarks to the Assembly - his first as president – included references to current international issues and Syria in particular, “The Islamic Republic views any action against Syria not only to be detrimental to the region but also to America’s friends and believes that such an action would not benefit any one,” he said. He also said that the “sensitive” situation in the region was one of his administration’s problems. He warned, “Without any doubt foreign intervention and the strengthening of terrorism are the principal problems of the region, while people’s votes and desires are the criteria.” Speaking about the sanctions facing Iran and the international community, he said a situation needed to be created through reason and thought so that the “conditions that have given the West the excuse to impose their sanctions should be taken away from them.”

Speaking about the economic conditions in Iran, Rowhani said, “One of the pledges of the president to the people is that the realities of the countries on the day that the new administration inherited will be communicated to the public in the first 100 days of the new cabinet’s life.”

The Shadow of the Military in the Assembly

In the pre-inaugural session of the Assembly on the first day, Revolutionary Guards commander of the Ghods Force, responsible for its foreign operations, presented a speech to the members. His remarks have not yet been published but ISNA student news agency had earlier written that he had plans to speak about Syria, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, and other regional countries. Soleimani is among the most influential Guards commanders and is responsible for implementing the policies of the Islamic Republic in the region, i.e., in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.

Eperts Assembly

According to article 107 of the constitution of the Islamic Republic, the Experts Assembly is responsible for monitoring the work of the supreme leader and has the authority to remove him from office. Should the supreme leader die, resign or cease to have the ability to perform his duties, the members of the Assembly shall elect a new leader from amongst the clerics that meet the conditions for the job.

But despite this monitoring responsibility, Kani repeatedly spoke of “protecting” the supreme leader and said that supervision of the supreme leader did not mean finding his faults and that our supervision means to do it with the goal of protection.”

During his speech on Monday too, Kani said he hoped that members of the Assembly would successfully “protect” the position of the supreme leader. The members of the Assembly are elected for an eight-year term. There are currently 86 Assembly members and they include former presidents, including Khamenei himself who was a two-time president, as was Rafsanjani.