Top News

After Iran’s Assembly of Experts reportedly elected Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Ali Khamenei, as the country’s new Supreme Leader following the latter’s reported death in a joint US-Israel operation, Iranian actor Elnaaz Norouzi said the decision does not reflect the will of the people, according to NDTV.

‘Supreme Leader Not Chosen By People’

As the US-Iran conflict entered its fifth day, Norouzi stated that Iran’s top leadership has never been chosen by public vote, and that this has been the case for nearly five decades.

“Just like the past 47 years, the people coming to power are not chosen by the Iranian people,” she told NDTV. “The same happened with Ali Khamenei, and now there’s another supreme leader coming in that Iran has not chosen.”

Norouzi said that for decades, Iranians have been demanding the right to choose their own leader but have had no say in the process.

“The whole point is that Iranians have been trying to say for 47 years that we want to choose our leader. We would like to vote,” she said.

The actor, known for her role in Netflix’s Sacred Games, also referred to the massive protests in 2009, when millions took to the streets demanding electoral transparency.

“In 2009, there was a huge protest. Millions of people came out on the roads chanting, ‘Where is our vote?’ Many people lost their lives. People realised this was not the person they had voted for, yet he came to power,” she said.

Norouzi further claimed that the leadership transition is happening without public involvement. “This has been going on for 47 years. They chose a leader whom many Iranians did not know. They killed Khamenei. Now his son is going to be the supreme leader. We have no comment on that. We have no say,” she added.

Israel Issues Warning

According to a report by Iran International, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) allegedly put a lot of pressure on the Assembly of Experts to support Mojtaba’s appointment. “The IRGC heavily pressured the assembled clerics to select Mojtaba as the regime’s new leader,” the outlet reported, citing sources.

Israel Katz, Israel’s Defence Minister, warned that any Iranian who becomes the Supreme Leader would be treated as a “target for elimination,” The Times of Israel reported.

“Any leader appointed by the Iranian regime to continue plans to destroy Israel, threaten the US and the free world, and oppress the Iranian people will be an unequivocal target for elimination. It does not matter what his name is or where he hides,” Katz said.