Trump Says He’d Meet Iran’s Mojtaba Khamanei

While “Weekend at Bernie’s” jokes refuse to die, President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are indicating that Mojtaba Khamanei is alive and functioning as the Islamic Republic’s chosen supreme leader. If so, though, his influence might bode ill for an agreed deal to end the war. The 56-year-old Ayatollah Khamenei is “a hardliner’s hardliner,” a top Iran watcher at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, Behnam Ben Taleblu, tells the Sun. “If he survived an attack that killed his whole family — and then you layer on the fact that he is an Islamist autocrat of the first order — his foreign policy will not be mild.”The younger ayatollah was at a compound alongside top regime officials on February 28, when an air strike killed many participants, including his father, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The son has yet to be seen in public or heard from via video or audio. His written statements could be composed by anyone. “If you have security concerns, which are legitimate, that you’re going to be assassinated if you come out and show yourself, or even if you do a video and potentially reveal your location, why don’t you put out your voice?” a reporter for the anti-regime Iran International, Negar Mojtahedi, tells the Sun. “Even with missing parts, can he not talk?” American intelligence, though, seems to assess that the regime’s third supreme leader is alive. “I think there are indications out there that he is increasingly engaging at some level, although all of his communications have been in writing and through intermediaries,” Mr. Rubio told Congress on Tuesday. Mr. Khamenei, though, was reportedly “severely injured,” in the strike that killed his father, the secretary of state added. On a New York Post podcast Mr. Trump was asked if the “gay ayatollah” — a reference to rumors about Mr. Khamanei’s orientation — is participating in negotiations. “He’s involved, absolutely,” the president said, adding that Tehran regime members “have a lot of respect for” the scion of the dynasty. “I’d like to meet him, but I’d like to meet everybody,” Mr. Trump added. “We probably will meet at some point, depending on how it all works out.”Even if the young ayatollah is fully functioning, though, Mr. Khamanei is likely to have less power than his father had. “Like his father in the early days, Mojtaba is very cautious,” an Iran watcher at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies, Beni Sabti, tells the Sun. “He doesn’t come right out saying yes or no. Instead, he hints and gestures to others that maybe they should try this or that — politely indicating, rather than stating, his preferences.”On Sunday, the regime’s president, Massoud Pezeshkian, handed to the supreme leader a letter of resignation, saying he is “excluded from major and vital decision-making processes,” Iran International is reporting. While officials at Tehran are denying the report, the president is widely believed to be out of the loop. Another figure, a former top official of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, the current speaker of the parliament Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, seems to be the main interlocutor communicating with the Trump administration. Yet he, too, is likely in no position to make the heavy decisions involving a deal with America. The current IRGC chief, Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi, is reportedly the only official to physically communicate with the Supreme Leader. The Guards control not only Iran’s military assets, but also much of the country’s economy. If Mr. Khamanei is indeed alive and functioning, General Vahidi is likely his top influencer. The elder Khamenei, as he consolidated his power in the 1990s, was pitting regime power centers against each other. In recent years, though, the late supreme leader increasingly empowered the IRGC. Mojtaba Khamanei is now even more tied to the Guards than his father. “Mojtaba grew up with the Guards, and he has no disagreements with them, “ Mr. Sabti says. The supreme leader’s statements, if he indeed writes them, are aligned with IRGC hardliners. “Each time there’s a hint of progress in talks with Washington, he puts a stop to it. He is one of the toughest opponents to a deal.”Perhaps, then, Washington’s new Mojtaba Khamenei chatter is a ruse. Mr. Trump, in his first term, “also said that he would like to meet Khamenei Sr., and that he would shake his hand in Tehran,” Ms. Mojtahedi says. Despite such talk, Mr. Trump ended up ordering the killing of Mojtaba Khamenei’s father.

Trump Says He’d Meet Iran’s Mojtaba Khamanei

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