THE BACKGROUND OF KHAMANEI’S VISITS
TO QOM
It is remarkable that Khamanei visited
Qom two more times with a sudden decision following his 10
day visit to the city on October 19-29, 2010. Why has the
Leader tended to visit Qom three times in a row rather than
convening the mullahs in Qom in his office in Tehran? The
prevailing opinion is that this has been the sign of a major
concern.
Khamanei has been frequently
criticized by the mullahs in Qom on the pretext that “he has
lost his neutrality” following the presidential elections in
2009. Having issued a statement prior to the first visit of
the Leader, the clerics of Qom and Najaf held Khamanei
responsible for the crimes and betrayal committed during the
election process and called others not to participate in
meetings that would be organized by the Leader. The visit
was postponed twice because of the reactions. However,
Khamanei, whose legitimacy and status have been compromised,
paid the said visits at all costs so as to get the support
of the clerics. Political commentators believe that the
Leader has visited Qom so as to lobby to become “Great
Ayatollah” and to have his son Mojtaba’s jurisprudence
approved. However, his expectations were not fulfilled. He
was even criticized for using his usual threatening language
during these visits. Meanwhile, the crowd that was gathered
to meet the leader and presented with an exaggerated manner
by the state television and radio was comprised of
individuals forcefully taken from regional provinces and
brought to Qom.
In his first visit, Khamanei wanted to
meet with Vaheed Khorasani, the grand hodja of the Qom
Religious School, and the respected cleric Mousawi Ardabili,
but they refused to meet with the Leader. Then, Khamanei met
with his close circle of individuals including Ayatollah
Naser Makarem Shirazy, Sheikh Abdollah Javad Amoli, Sayyid
Musa Shabiri Zanjani, Sheikh Sadigh Larijani, Seyyed Mahmud
Shahroudi, Sheikh Mesbah Yazdi and Sheikh Ahmad Jannati.
These meetings brought no gains to Khamanei because these
were individuals already nourished by the Leadership,
supporting the “persecution” order give by the Leader
against the protestors.
During the reign of Ali Khamanei, the
IRGC has become far from its original mission, involved in
the political, economic and cultural domains of Iran. While
the IRGC believed that its legitimacy has been granted by
the Spiritual Leader, the Leader himself has begun receiving
his legitimacy from the IRGC. He is now calculating how he
can get out of this confinement. The three consecutive
visits to Qom have been the outcome of the said calculations.
What has made Khamanei obliged to the IRGC? Khamanei has
applied to the IRGC so as to suppress the opposition
movements that have intensified in the recent period.
Meanwhile, while granting the IRGC commanders with economic
interests, he has been trying to secure his legitimacy by
means of the political support that he receives in return.
Lacking a prominent position amongst the clergy, the Leader
has not been liked by the public right from the beginning.
Despite all the efforts, the end of the road has become
visible for Khamanei and his ship was stranded in Qom.
Frequently weeping to present himself as oppressed, Khamanei
actually cried in the Jamkaran Mosque…
