by SAHAR NAMAZIKHAH
While Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been trying to bolster his support by visiting senior members of the Shi’ite Muslim hierarchy in Qom, an influential ayatollah has spoken out against him 800 kilometers away in the city of Shiraz.
Ayatollah Ali Mohammad Dastgheib, who has been dubbed the “Green Ayatollah” – green being the color adopted by the opposition – raised doubts about the powers exercised by Khamenei in response to a question from one of his followers.
The Supreme Leadership, a post first held by the Islamic Republic’s founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, is generally held to be above partisan politics and beyond criticism.
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