Mirzad Borujerdi

These folks have benefited handsomely from sanction busting.

And so the question right now is that how will they deal with the next supreme leader chosen by that assembly of experts?

Will they exercise veto power if whoever is chosen is not to their liking?

Or if this person is chosen, will they really maintain agenda-setting power and basically telling an unexperienced newbie how he should be conducting himself as the next supreme leader?

So yes, IRGC or the Revolutionary Guard is really the force to look at at this critical moment.

Right.

So, again, because of the opaque process of selecting a leader, you know, this is all a guessing on our part.

I will mention three individuals that are on my radar.

One is, of course, the son of Ayatollah Khamenei, who...

you know, is sort of the ultimate insider for the job, but he has not really held any type of official elected or appointed offices.

And because of his junior standing in the clerical hierarchy, his selection will also rattle the rank and files of the clerical and political class.

The second individual is a member who was very much favored by Ayatollah Khamenei by the name of Ali Reza Arafi.

This guy was given, entrusted with important positions, including being in charge of all the religious seminaries in the country, which is, of course, a

rather important political and clerical tasks.

He is also currently a member of that three-member council that are supposed to be taking care of issues confronting the country until the next supreme leader is chosen.

And finally, I would say a former head of the judiciary, a gentleman by the name Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani,

He comes from a well-established family and therefore his brother also currently is the national security advisor.

So he has sort of the pedigree in terms of his religious standing, et cetera, and family connections, ties to the clerical establishment that might make him a suitable candidate.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, I think we need to keep in mind that Iran really was not a one-bullet state.