It's not as simple as that. There's also Muqtada al-Sadr and his al-Sadr movement. Sadr has ambitions of becoming an Ayatollah and when he is an Ayatollah, he will find less use in looking up to Sistani, but he will continue to find use for Khamenei's funding and support. Al-Sadr has political ambitions too. Khamenei has billions of dollars. Al-Sadr and Al-Sistani don't.
How about this : both belong to the toilet
Arian is right. Shia forces around the globe recognize Khamenei as the leader of all shias wether it is political or militarily. Sistani is just a crumbled old spiritual leader hidden in the alleys of Najaf, not many know about him outside of Iraq.Yes, because when Quds officers arrive into countries they promptly announce themselves as Quds officersHow did that Indian intelligence officer get into Iran?
Quds gets in the same way Mossad/CIA/MI6 get into countries and in the Middle East.
As for Sistani he likes neither the Iranian or US presence in his country. He may use his influence to suggest a better path for his country. But the man is not playing the great game like Khamenai. He is a cleric who believes the religious establishment shouldn’t interfere with the government too much or seen as questioning the legitimacy of elected officials.
Given how his simple decree during ISIS invasion gave rise to tens of thousands of Iraqi volunteers. The man is so respected in Iraq he could have seized power much like Khomeini did if he wanted. But he hasn’t.
If you want to say Khamenai is the face of Axis of Resistance than that is believable. But the face of Shiite Islam from a theology standpoint? No. Because many Shiites and Shiite derivative religions (Alawites, Houthis) do not accept the notion of “Velayat-e faqih” much less that Khamenai is the leader.
I don't think sadr has any gravitas outside Iraq and even then limited compared to before as I think Iran has cemented itself urther in iraq since mid 2000s.
its kind of funny u hate Zarif.....When Zarif is one of the brightest Iranian govt minds. Just saying..lol
The only way that Zarif could be one of the brightest minds in the Iranian government is if we assume that all other people in the Iranian government are dumb as f*ck, which isn't very far from the truth anyway.
Then we have to ask what their vote means:
Because a unanimous majority of Iranians seem to prefer to live with dignity(from opposing perceived western/ US hegemony) and the suffering it comes with than give into a system that makes them cringe on the inside. Also, Iranian needs to be ready for what REAL CHANGE will bring - new ideas, people, situations, challenges, culture clashes, etc...u have to be ready to manage that...but Iranian is also deeply religious on avg, so they also have spiritual/religious objectives, and unless Iranian calculates and accepts(via govt action) that some things are too stressful for the nation and not worth it, it will continue.
He was yelling at some journalists over gold coins and his voice is so very different from when he was defense minister. He had variations in tone, inflections, pitch variations, etc. As DM, he had a certain aloof almost cold detachment from the subject at hand but acts very differently now.
