00:00Welcome back. An expert says the appointment of Mushtabah Kamni as Iran's supreme leader suggests the regime is prioritizing survival
00:10and internal security over traditional clerical legitimacy.
00:14Dr. Gatha Solomon of Nanyang Technological University says Mushtabah Kamni does not hold the rank of Ayatollah, a senior religious
00:22title among 12 Shia clerics traditionally linked to the position of supreme leader.
00:28His selection signals a departure from the traditional religious qualifications required for the office of the vilayat al-faqih as
00:38he does not hold the rank of Ayatollah which is the highest ranking title of the 12 Shia clerics.
00:45So this shift suggests that the regime is prioritizing survival and internal security over the theological legitimacy that defined its
00:55first four decades under late Khamenei.
00:58Under the doctrine of vilayat al-faqih established under the 1979 Islamic Revolution, a qualified Shia jurist should lead the
01:07state until the return of the 12th Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi.
01:10As a result, Iran's supreme leader has typically been a senior cleric with the rank of Ayatollah.
01:17The 56-year-old Mushtabah Kamni does not hold the rank of Ayatollah.
01:21However, the son of the slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has long been seen as an influential behind-the
01:27-scenes figure with close ties to Iran's powerful Islamic revolutionary guard corps and conservative political networks.
01:35Before his appointment, several senior clerics had been viewed as potential successes, including Ayatollah Ali Reza Arafi and Ayatollah Sadeq
01:44Ammoli Larijani.
01:45Suleiman also said Iran has spent years restructuring its military command system to ensure continuity during crisis.
01:53Besides, the regime transited also toward a mosaic defense structure, as you just mentioned, over the last two decades.
02:02So the battlefield is now governed by a governed centralized command and control strategy to counter asymmetric threats from the
02:11U.S. and Israel.
02:13So under this, Iran is divided into 31 distinct military sectors, one for each province, allowing mid-level IRGC commanders
02:25to operate autonomously.
02:26So under this, inεΈΈ and as
Comments