Word: montazeri
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...struggle for succession in Iran first surfaced when the U.S. arms-for- hostages scandal was revealed last November. It reached a peak last month during an extraordinary televised confession by Mehdi Hashemi, a leading radical politician and a close associate of the Ayatullah Hussein Ali Montazeri, 64, Khomeini's officially designated successor. Hashemi and a number of henchmen were arrested on charges of murder, kidnaping and sedition. According to reports from Tehran, the state's evidence includes such exotic weapons as vials of cyanide, booby-trapped shoes, exploding ink pens and remote-control model airplanes equipped with explosives. In early...
Even so, Khomeini has gone to considerable lengths to avoid giving the impression that he has withdrawn his support of Montazeri as his handpicked successor. He has, for example, permitted Montazeri to characterize Hashemi as a sort of loose cannon, an Iranian-style Oliver North who frequently acted on his own. Montazeri has denied any complicity in Hashemi's illegal activities and has pressed for a full investigation at "whatever cost." In his televised confession, Hashemi admitted that he had "abused the confidence" of Montazeri...
Beyond that, the nature of the maneuvering for the succession is as murky as ever. Besides Montazeri, the contenders for the post-Khomeini leadership are Rafsanjani, the dominant figure in parliament and a power broker extraordinary; and Hojatoleslam Seyed Ali Khamene'i, 47, the country's hard- line President...
Ironically, the Israelis may have had little to do with Weir's freedom. According to the Repatriation Front, the release was arranged by the Ayatullah Hussein Ali Montazeri, a religious radical and Khomeini's heir apparent. Montazeri was evidently chagrined by his rival Rafsanjani's diplomatic overtures and decided to one-up the mullah by showing that he had sufficient influence to win freedom for an American hostage. "It is clear that the Americans did not understand who they were dealing with," says one knowledgeable dissident. "It seems they thought they were still dealing with one Iranian government, just...
...cover began coming off first in Iran, when supporters of Khomeini's chosen successor, Ayatullah Hussein Ali Montazeri, started clandestinely distributing pamphlets accusing the regime of surreptitious contacts with the U.S. Specifically, they claimed that Rafsanjani had met with nameless American emissaries in Iran. Last week several members of the group were reportedly arrested in Iran, charged with distributing leaflets that were "in line with the vicious attempts of the counterrevolutionaries...