By Con Coughlin, Defence Editor; 14 Jun 2015
There are mounting fears that a deepening power struggle in Tehran over the succession for the powerful position of Supreme Leader could derail attempts to negotiate a deal over Iran’s nuclear program.
Western diplomats involved in the negotiations believe the increasingly frail health of Khamenei, the regime’s current Supreme Leader, has prompted a fierce power struggle between rival contenders as they jostle for the succession.
Recent reports in the Iranian media have suggested that his condition is terminal, and that the man who had dominated Iranian politics since the death of Khomeini, the founding of Islamic regime, in 1989 only has months to live.
In March Mohammed Yazdi, 84, a hardline ally of Khamenei, was elected head of the Assembly of Experts, the religious body responsible for choosing the country’s new Supreme Leader when the position falls vacant.
The renewed bout of political in-fighting in Tehran is causing particular concern for Western diplomats involved in negotiations to resolve the stand-off over Iran’s nuclear program.
June 30 has been set as the date for a final agreement to be reached, whereby Iran agrees to scale down the elements of its program that could be used to develop nuclear weapons in return for the easing of crippling economic sanctions.
After years of negotiations, U.S. officials believe a deal is within reach that for a decade would keep Iran at least a year from being able to build a nuclear weapon.
But any final agreement negotiated between Iran and representatives of the so-called P5+1 – the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Iran – needs to be ratified by the Supreme Leader.
In the past attempts to achieve a breakthrough in the long-running dispute have failed because Khamenei and other hardliners in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have refused to accept any deal negotiated with the U.S.
Now Western negotiators fear the current round of negotiations could suffer a similar fate as a result of the political in-fighting taking place in Tehran.