Picture Shows: Iran's new Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei
As soon as I heard that there was a new Ayatollah in Iran and that he was in a deep coma the Smith’s ‘Girlfriend in a coma’ popped into my head. The second thought after that one was more serious. I started wondering if the new Ayatollah, Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the last, heavily exploded Ayatollah, knows that he’s Iran’s Supreme Leader? I also wondered why, out of the many Ayatollahs they could have picked, they picked one in a coma?
If the Ayatollah elect is out of the control loop by being in a coma and suffering from amputated limbs then it may show that the much vaunted succession planning that the Islamists in Iran have done might not have worked. There might not be enough suitable or politically sound Ayatollah’s to take up the position of Supreme Leader or those most qualified for the job may have turned it down on the grounds that it might, thanks to the Americans and the Israelis, be a very short term position?
What we do know is that Mojtaba Khamenei has close links to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the regime’s paramilitary force which has often been used against dissident citizens of Iran. The IRGC is more than likely running the show and they are fanatics.
The problem with fanatics is that they don’t care if the world burns. I’ve met plenty of religious and political fanatics in my time (from both the Right and the Left) and fanatics don’t let go of their cause, they keep on going whatever the cost to them and others. It’s likely that as long as the IRGC holds any power at all they will allow Iran and it’s people, along with other nations in the region to burn.
I very much doubt that IRGC types hyped up on Islamic eschatology will be the sort of people who could be negotiated with or trusted or treated as honest brokers. They can only be fought. The only way I can see out of this war is to destroy as much of the IRGC infrastructure and as many of its personnel as can be found. This means that it’s unlikely that the Iran War will end very soon as it may take time to root out enough of the Islamic fanatics that have embedded themselves in Iranian society since 1979 to cause them to lose their grip on power.
The fact that the Iranian regime can only find a crippled and comatose Ayatollah as figurehead is a positive sign, it’s a sign that maybe the regime is in more trouble than it bargained for, but there’s still more work to do to rid the Iranians of the Islamic curse that has been laid on them for nearly half a century. Do we really think that the Ayatollah will pull through? It may not matter, he may be only a figurehead with the real power elsewhere and that is the power that needs to be destroyed.
Link
The Smiths – Girlfriend In A Coma
