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Hard-liners take aim at Khomeini's grandson

Hard-liners' attacks against the grandson of the Islamic Republic's founder may prove futile in their effort to derail his candidacy for the Assembly of Experts.
Hassan Khomeini (C, in chair), 43, a grandson of Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, registers for February's election of the Assembly of Experts, the clerical body that chooses the supreme leader, at the Interior Ministry in Tehran December 18, 2015. REUTERS/TIMA  ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY.  - RTX1Z8MD

TEHRAN, Iran — Following heated speculations, the most prominent grandson of the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Seyyed Hassan Khomeini, has registered to run for a seat on the Assembly of Experts. The clerical body is tasked with overseeing the performance of the supreme leader and choosing his successor. Polling for the assembly’s 88 seats will be held on February 26, alongside elections for Parliament. Assembly members are elected for eight-year terms. Khomeini’s candidacy received a warm welcome from conservatives, moderates and Reformists, but has met with a barrage of harsh criticism from hard-liners, who have launched a campaign against the 43-year-old ayatollah and grandson of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic.

Hard-liners have brought up a series of concerns that they say should compel the sidelining of Khomeini from the race for the assembly. For instance, they claim that Khomeini is part of an alleged plot by the Expediency Council chairman, Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, to seize control over the influential assembly. Indeed, Hossein Shariatmadari, the editor of the ultra-conservative newspaper Kayhan known for his hard-line positions, has alluded to such a scheme in an op-ed, asserting, “Seyyed Hassan Khomeini’s name and position are being used to hide the plans of the troublemaker groups that are tied to foreign [governments] and received a big blow in the proxy unrest of 2009 [following presidential elections]." Shariatmadari took a direct swipe at Khomeini in his Kayhan editorial, writing, “People like [the executed Saudi Shiite] Sheikh [Nimr] al-Nimr and [the detained Nigerian Shiite] Sheikh [Ibrahim] Zakzaki are the real grandsons of Imam Khomeini.”

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