Mick Hartley

From Maziar Bahari:

While comparing Khamenei 2.0 to his dead father, it’s important to remember that Ali Khamenei rose to power in 1989, at the age of 50, after 25 years of cultivating an image as an unworldly cleric, mainly interested in poetry and philosophy rather than political power. Even his fiercest critics recognise that Ali Khamenei was a good orator and knew how to read the room. He was a violent, manipulative, and brutal theocrat but knew how to use words, and did that very well in meetings with Revolutionary Guards commanders and hardline clerics in the first years after coming to power to gain their trust.

On the other hand, Mojtaba Khamenei has never (NEVER!) given a public speech. In one private video message sent to his students at the seminary, shared on social media and here, Mojtaba has difficulty putting two sentences together and getting to the point.

That will pose a problem for him and the regime. In a situation in which the “supreme” leader must live in a bunker for the foreseeable future, he and his regime will have a very difficult time working on his image, earning his followers’ trust, and finding new acolytes. The result will be an even more brutal rule than his father’s, with no need to pretend that his rule is legitimate or to reach a consensus with different parts of Iranian society.

Mojtaba may have outmanoeuvred his rivals to come to power, but years of operating in the shadow of his father will catch up with him soon. Dark days ahead for Mojtaba, his regime, and, sadly, for millions of innocent Iranians taken hostage by the Khamenei regime.