Khomeini’s grandson eyes succession to top Shiite spiritual leadership
Ali Khomeini, grandson
of the founder of Iranian Islamic regime late Rohullah Khomeini, has travelled
to Iran for teaching at the Najaf Scientific Hawza, a seminary where Shi'a Muslim clerics are
trained. His visit was seen by some experts as a move to make him a successor
to Ali al-Sistani, commonly known as Ayatollah Sistani in Iranian Shiite marja in Iraq.
Khomeini - the grandson
- was born on April 10, 1985, four years before the death of the grandfather,
inheriting the legacy of religious education.
During the era of
Mohammad Reza Shah, Khomeini -the grandfather- was exiled in 1964 to Turkey
then to Iraq due to his opposition to the Shah. However, the grandson’s current
visit to Iraq was to teach Twelver, one of the Shiite sects in Islam.
Ali Khomeini is Javad al-Shahristani’s student and
son-in-law. He has two sons: Mohamed Ali and Mohamed Hussei. Shahristani is
Sistani’s deputy, cousin and son-in-law.
Experts
of the Iranian affairs believe that Ali Khomeini's visit to Najaf and his
kinship with Javad Shahrastani and Sistani bolster that there are ways of
Ahmad Khomeini's succession to Sistani’s leadership, ensuring Iran's
control over about 200 million Shiites
worldwide.
Ali
Khomeini’s stands towards the U.S. and the Iranian regime are not diiferent
from his grandfather’s ones; in his speech in February 2018, Ali Khomeini
focused on the significance of Iranian Revolutions’ principles, which were laid
down by the grandfather. Hi speech came amid a wave of protests took place in
the Iranian streets. He stressed that the maintenances of the Iranian
Revolution and the unity of Iranian is a must, al-KawtharT.V. reported.
“We
are proud of the leadership of the Islamic revolution [in an indication to the
Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei],” Ali Khomeini was quoted by Tasnim news
agency.
As
for his stance towards the U.S., Al Khomeini sees the United States of America
as “the Great Satan,” describing U.S. President Donald Trump a “child,’ whose
policy isolated the united states away from the world, according to Mehr news
agency.
