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.”

Moreover, the hard-line cleric Mehdi Taeb addressed Khomeini, telling an audience in the central city of Yazd, “Rafsanjani called you Allamah [an honorific for Islamic scholars]. This means he is taking advantage of you. Why aren’t you paying attention and showing any reaction to this issue?” Also in this vein, Hossein Jalali, head of the office of conservative Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah, has claimed to media, “Rafsanjani is trying to start a new seditious movement with the family of Imam Khomeini.”

Such sentiments aside, on the day Khomeini signed up to run in the elections, he told reporters at a press conference after his registration that he would be campaigning as an “independent candidate.” Mohsen Gharavian, another candidate for the Assembly of Experts, pointed out to Al-Monitor, “Seyyed Hassan Khomeini doesn’t belong to any group or political party,” and added, “His emphasis on ‘being independent’ means he is doing his best not to tarnish the image of his late grandfather among people.”