PHOTO: Ayatollah Alamalhoda, the Mashhad Friday Prayer Leader


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A leading cleric has argued against recovery of Iran’s crippled economy, saying that “prosperity and greed will lead the nation into the enemy’s hands”.

Ayatollah Ahmad Alamolhoda, the prayer leader in Iran’s second city Mashhad and a member of the Assembly of Experts, called for resistance against the West while reinforcing the Supreme Leader’s warnings about Western “infiltration” and urging Iranians not to empower “anti-revolutionary elements”.

In an indirect challenge to the Rouhani Government, the hardline cleric warned against policies that are “not in line with Islamic revolutionary values”.

More than two years after taking office, the Government is still trying to deal with mismanagement, economic distortions, and sanctions. It has reduced inflation from more than 40% to about 15%, but production and investment are still depressed, there is a large budget deficit, and the Iranian currency is about one-third of its pre-2012 value.

With Iran’s oil exports restricted by 40% since sanctions were imposed in 2012 and the global oil price decreasing 65% in a year, the Government is struggling to maintain basic services and projects. President Rouhani said on Wednesday that both the 2016/17 budget and the Development Plan for 2016-2020 will be presented to Parliament in late December or early January.

The Government is hoping that International Atomic Energy Agency verification of Iran’s compliance with the July 14 nuclear deal with the 5+1 Powers will begin the process of lifting US and European Union sanctions. However, that verification has been delayed by Iranian hardliners’ objections to implementation, and the removal of sanctions will take months even after the IAEA issues its final report.

See Iran Daily, December 7: Tehran, 5+1 Powers Discuss Implementation of Nuclear Deal


Khomeini Grandson to Stand for Assembly of Experts

Seyed Hassan Khomeini, grandson of the late Ayatollah Khomeini, will enter politics as a candidate in February’s elections to the Assembly of Experts, the body which chooses the Supreme Leader.

“Hassan Khomeini, after the massive urging of different groups and after consulting various personalities, decided to register for Assembly of Experts elections,” his brother Ali Khomeini said.

Hassan Khomeini has carefully tried to challenge hardline politics, including the repression after the disputed 2009 Presidential election. In June 2010, he was heckled by supporters of President Ahmadinejad and forced to abandon his speech at the commemoration of his grandfather’s death.

Khomeini is seen as a political ally of President Rouhani and former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, who will stand for chairmanship of the Assembly. He is also considered sympathetic to reformists such as former President Mohammad Khatami, whose name cannot be mentioned in Iranian media under orders issued by the judiciary.


Mystery Continues Over Fate of General Soleimani in Syria

The latest speculation on the fate of the leader of the elite Qods Force, General Qassem Soleimani — rumored to have been wounded in Syria last month — centers on the cancellation of his speech on Monday at a Tehran university.

Soleimani was supposed to mark National Students Day with an address at Shahid Beheshti University but he never showed up, as students chanted for him at the ceremony.

The first rumors about Soleimani’s arose in mid-November, saying he was injured on the front south of Aleppo city and taken to a hospital in Tehran. The claims ranged from a serious head injury and even death to “lightly wounded”.

The outlet of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Fars News, has tried to counter the stories with photographs purportedly of Soleimani in command in Syria and the declaration that he oversaw the operation to rescue the Russian navigator of a warplane downed by Turkey. Another outlet posted a supposed interview in which Soleimani said he was “ready for martyrdom” but was uninjured and well.

See Iran Daily, Dec 1: Surge in Iranian Deaths in Syria — But Where’s General Soleimani?