Fearful of mullahs' overthrow, Rafsanjani describes velayat-e faqih as guarantee for mullahs' survival

Following the escalation of conflicts within the regime's highest leadership, Hashemi Rafsanjani, Head of the Council for the Discernment of the State Exigencies, hastily warned against underminig the velayat-e faqih and described it as the "primary executive pillar and guarantee for the survival" of the regime.

His comments come after rival factions within the regime have openly attacked and brought under question Khamenei and the principle of velayat-e faqih. Comparing the regime's current state with the period immediately after Khomeini's death, Rafsanjani laid bare his fear of the regime's overthrow. He stressed that without the velayat-e faqih, the regime will become "vulnerable."

Rafsanjani's remarks today reflect on the one hand the unprecedented escalation of the power struggle among the ruling mullahs. On the other hand, they display the clerics' fear over the rise in public discontent, and the expansion of the activities by the Resistance's nationwide network and the Mojahedin's military operations inside Iran.

The statements made by the regime's former president further reveal that the claims about this regime's moderation are but a mirage and that Iran's ruling religious, terrorist dictatorship has no way but to step up repression and export terrorism to confront its various crises.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran - Paris
November 12, 1997

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