October 08, 2021
The Larijani brothers appear to be fading from the government where they were once dominant figures.
Sadeq Larijani announced his surprise resignation from the Council of Guardians September 5, just a few months after he criticized the 12-member body for excluding his brother, Ali Larijani, from running in June’s presidential election.
Within hours, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenehi named another cleric, Ahmad Hossaini-Khorasani, to replace Larijani. The rapidity of the new appointment made clear that Khamenehi knew the resignation was coming.
Many in Iran believe Khamenehi is trying to purge the Larijani family from the regime.
A third Larijani brother, Mohammad-Javad, left his post as the head of the Supreme Council on Human Rights several months ago.
Ali Larijani was speaker of the Majlis for eight years until retiring last year after the Majlis elections, where he did not run for re-election.
But despite the speculation that Khamenehi wants to cleanse the government of everything Larijani, he is far from doing that. He named Ali Larijani just a few weeks ago to monitor the new 25-year “cooperation” agreement with China. And Sadeq remains the chairman of the Expediency Council.
The membership of the Expediency Council comes up for renewal next year and everyone will be watching to see if Sadeq Larijani is named again to serve there.
The Guardian Council can veto laws enacted by the Majlis if it judges they violate the Constitution or Sharia law. The council also vets candidates for presidential and parliamentary elections. So, its 12 members are powerful arms of the state.
Sadeq Larijani protested strongly against the rejection of his brother’s candidacy and posted a series of tweets in which he accused the security services of being out to get his brother. Later, however, he rolled back his statements. Guardian Council spokesperson Abbas Ali Kadkhodai said Larijani had received a warning over his controversial tweets.
The five Larijani brothers are the sons of a once-highly influential grand ayatollah, Mirza Hashem. The process that led to the gradual loss of political capital by the Larijani brothers was started by former President Mahmud Ahmadi-nejad who accused them of corruption toward the end of his tenure in 2013 and even produced a video at the Majlis showing a junior brother, Bagher Larijani, asking one of Ahmadi-nejad’s aides for bribes for favors by his brothers at the top of the Majlis and the Judiciary at the time.
Another Larijani, former Deputy Foreign Minister and Deputy Chief Justice Moham-mad-Javad Larijani was kicked out of the system when he was implicated in a major land grab in Varamin near Tehran, but his brother’s Judiciary cleared him of the charges.
The fifth brother, who was a diplomat in Canada, has not been heard of in recent years.
Iran International said insider reports indicate Sadeq Larijani might spend the rest of his life at a seminary, and, in fact, Iranian news agencies reported he has started teaching a course on advanced jurisprudence at his lavish seminary in Qom