Calls for questioning Iran supreme leader ‘mere media show’

Noura Bendari

There are calls in Iran for questioning supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

These calls, which rise every now and then, usually come from within the hard-line pro-Iranian regime movement.

Hassan Rahim Azghadi, a political analyst and a member of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution in Iran who is directly supervised by the supreme leader, has called for the supreme leader to be held accountable.

“Khamenei must be held accountable because he is responsible,” he said.

Speaking to the Iranian news agency, Khabar Online, on October 13, Azghadi added that the supreme leader holds a lot of power in his hand.

That is why, he said, he must be held accountable.

“If Khamenei gives orders for war or peace, he will be obeyed,” Azghadi said.

“And if he says you should do this or that in the nuclear issue, everyone will obey him,” he added.

He said the supreme leader should be able to explain all this and defend his decisions.

Media review

Masoud Ibrahim Hassan, an academic who specializes in Iranian affairs, believes Azghadi’s call for questioning the Iranian supreme leader is just a ‘media show’.

After all, he said, the proposal was violently turned down by all those on the Iranian political stage.

“The Iranian constitution immunizes the supreme leader against these calls,” Hassan said.

“The supreme leader preserves his post until his death,” he added.

Hassan noted that all political institutions in Iran know this rule and do not try to challenge or change it.

Nonetheless, Hassan told The Reference that Azghadi’s call for bringing the supreme leader to account was welcomed by ordinary Iranians.

These people, he said, are bearing the brunt of the economic crisis in their country already.