New Iran TV Movie: Guess Who’s Not Coming to Dinner?

Imagine, if you will, suffering through a catastrophe that killed your father, wife, and child … and then not showing up for the funeral, even when people say you continue to work. Add this to the scenario: your brothers all show up for the very public funeral, but you remain absent. And now add this: supposedly, you are the head of state and the funeral is for the preceding head of state during an official mourning period where thousands attend – and you don’t.

What does that make you? There are only two choices: a coward or a dead man. 

So … which is Mojtaba Khamenei?

Three sons of the former Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei have made a rare public appearance on the second day of his funeral, but there has still been no sign of his successor and other son, Mojtaba Khamenei.

Iranian TV showed Mostafa, Meysam and Masoud Khamenei praying behind coffins laid out in the vast courtyard of Imam ⁠⁠Khomeini Grand Mosalla, a sprawling religious complex in Tehran.

Among the remains on display were Ali Khamenei, his daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, and 14-month-old granddaughter, all killed in an air strike on February 28, the opening day of the US-Israel war on Iran.

Why won’t the Nepo Babytollah show up when thousands of Iranians make a public spectacle of mourning? According to Al-Jazeera, Mojtaba fears an Israeli assassination:

Mojtaba Khamenei’s absence from the mourning ceremonies is believed to be due to the dangers of Israeli threats to his life. He has not been seen or heard publicly since his appointment as supreme leader in March, a decision many analysts believe is for his safety.

Ahem. This is certainly not an irrational fear, but it’s also not a compelling one, under the circumstances. For one thing, the Iranian regime and its mullahs are busy issuing fatwas against Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu at these same funeral events, demanding their assassinations as a religious duty. They began doing so in January, even before the war broke out, in fact. Both Trump and Netanyahu have continued with their public appearances anyway, despite the very real risk that Iran’s agents or stooges will attempt to fulfill these calls. Trump spoke at Mt. Rushmore and in Washington DC, at public celebrations of America’s 250th anniversary. Neither Trump nor Netanyahu are hiding from their enemies, but Mojtaba can’t even be bothered to attend the funeral of his own wife and child, not to mention his father and predecessor as head of state. 

If Mojtaba is actually alive, it’s an act of breathtaking cowardice. Even Ahmad Vahidi showed up at Ali Khamenei’s coffin this weekend (briefly), and Vahidi is much more important operationally than the Nepo Babytollah. If Israel intended to assassinate anyone at the funeral, they would target the commander-in-chief of the IRGC and not his sockpuppet from Qom. As France’s i24 News points out, Vahidi showed up to send a message:

General Ahmad Vahidi, one of Iran’s most powerful military figures, has reappeared in public ahead of the funeral ceremonies for former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ending months of speculation over his reported death. Iranian state media released photographs showing Vahidi attending a meeting related to the funeral arrangements and later sitting beside Khamenei’s coffin in Tehran. His appearance comes after repeated reports in Israeli media claiming he had been killed earlier this year. …

The public reappearance of Ahmad Vahidi appears to send a message that Iran’s military leadership remains intact despite months of speculation. His presence at the funeral preparations also highlights the important role the IRGC is expected to play during the country’s political transition.

Security experts believe Vahidi’s return may strengthen confidence among Iran’s leadership while signalling continuity in the country’s military and regional policies. However, with regional tensions still elevated, his re-emergence is also likely to attract close attention from the United States, Israel and other international observers monitoring developments in Iran.

If Vahidi can pop his head up out of his spider hole to make a demonstration of continuity in the regime, why can’t Mojtaba – even for his own wife and daughter? Again, there are only two conclusions, or if we’re generous, three. Mojtaba may be still alive but too badly disabled to appear in public, but even that third option would mean that he’s effectively nothing better than a figurehead, and Vahidi has seized control of Iran and now runs it as a military junta. If Mojtaba is fit enough to run the country, he’d be fit enough to appear in public at the state funeral for his father, wife, and daughter. The Nepo Babytollah is either a coward or dead. 

All of these options mean the same thing, functionally speaking: Vahidi runs the regime, and the mullahs are just for show. 

The report from Al-Jazeera has one other intriguing nugget:

“Thousands and thousands of people are streaming through to pay their respects … they are carrying Iranian flags and also red flags symbolising a call for revenge,” Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi reported from Tehran.

“Thousands,” eh? Not “millions”? Tehran alone has nearly 10 million people in its metropolitan area, which, thanks to a water crisis, already may be too many by an order of magnitude. If only “thousands” are showing up to fluff the IRGC and the Khameneis with at least a few testicular cells still left operating, the Vahidi regime may be shakier than we presume. 

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