Iranian Supreme Leader Crushes Political Opposition

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei handed down his decision Wednesday regarding the kind of candidates he will allow to run in February’s parliamentary elections. His statement that candidates who did not support the “values” of the Shi’ite Moslem theocracy which has ruled Iran since 1979 must not be allowed to run for office was a major defeat for the so-called “moderate” camp in Iranian politics led by President Hassan Rouhani, on which the hopes and plans of Western governments for Iran’s future as a cooperative regional partner depend. Nearly 12,000 candidates have applied for the right to run for 1 of the 378 seats in the parliament, which has long been dominated by functionaries of the theocratic regime and which rarely challenges the Supreme Leader’s directives. Read More >>