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Matt Frei is joined by political analyst Dr Ahmed Alkhuzaie as Iran begins public mourning for slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran's supreme leader was killed by US and Israeli strikes in their first attack of the war and the funeral events will begin over the weekend in Tehran, with mass processions planned next week in Qom and Mashhad and ceremonies in Iraq. "The large public turnout at the funeral procession of the martyred leader and the other martyrs will, in effect, be another referendum for the Islamic Republic," Qom Friday prayer leader Ayatollah Mohammad Saidi declared to state media. Listen to the full show on the all-new LBC App: https://app.af.lbc.co.uk/btnc/thenewlbcapp #mattfrei #iran #iranwar #ayatollahkhamenei #funeral #donaldtrump #trump #middleeast #politics #LBC LBC is the home of live debate around news and current affairs in the UK. Join in the conversation and listen at https://www.lbc.co.uk/ Sign up to LBC’s weekly newsletter here: https://l-bc.co/signup
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0:00
One of the things that America has done recently that has been heavily criticized
0:03
including by people who used to support the current president, is the war on Iran, a war of choice
0:08
A short time ago, the United States military began major combat operations in Iran
0:17
Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime
0:25
a vicious group of very hard, terrible people. This is the moment for action
0:33
Do not let it pass. May God bless the brave men and women of America's armed forces
0:40
May God bless the United States of America. May God bless you all
0:45
With some very questionable reasons for starting on the day that it began
0:52
on that day also the ayatollah the supreme leader ayatollah khamenei was killed together with quite
0:58
a few members of his family and of his inner circle and his son much to bahamenei is taken
1:04
over but we have yet to see him in public some people say that that's because he's injured some
1:09
people say it's because he might be dead other people say that if he did appear in public especially
1:15
today then the israelis might try and kill him because they said that they would and we have to
1:20
take that seriously. But today is the funeral, the beginning of the funeral, of the state
1:25
funeral of the Supreme Leader, Khamenei. And the scenes in Tehran are extraordinary, especially
1:32
coming out of this war with America. Let's speak now to Dr. Ahmed Al-Khuzay. He's a political
1:37
yst and advisor specializing in Middle Eastern and Arab affairs. And he joins us from
1:42
Bahrain I know you not in Tehran at the moment but describe to us the kind of scenes that we can expect to see as many many Iranians some of them bust in but also some of them genuinely upset are bearing their last supreme leader I not in Tehran so I not able to
2:00
exactly convey what's happening in reality. We see what's going on on media. We read and we talk
2:06
to people as much as we could. Who knows about it? And that's exactly what we're saying. There
2:11
There are reports from the Iranian opposition abroad that says that they have confirmed reports
2:19
of forced attendance to the funeral. I'm not sure how accurate that is
2:24
Then basically everybody is looking at how many people are attending, especially the officials
2:30
from all around the world. Yesterday we had a glimpse of what it is, and there were around 15 representatives from
2:39
15 countries. Basically, the rest are either, we're talking about semi-representatives, just a glimpse of it. Saudi Arabia, for example, sent their deputy foreign minister, Oman and
2:53
Qatar, they sent the speakers of their legislative bodies. Pakistan sent their prime minister
3:01
We're talking about Georgia and Tajikistan sending their presidents. But we haven't seen
3:05
the rest of the world participating. I'm not sure how will that play over the next coming days
3:11
especially that the funeral is not just one day and it will partake between Iraq and Iran itself
3:18
Right. But I guess what they're trying to show to the rest of the world, you know, those who
3:22
attended and those who didn't, is that we're still here. We haven't gone away. We've been attacked by
3:26
the most powerful military alliance on the planet, America, Israel, and we have survived. We still
3:32
still have a pulse. That's true, yet not entirely. Everybody is looking forward to have a final basically a glimpse on the air the sun and the next Ayatollah of the deceased Ali Khamenei I know and you just mentioned prior to our conversation that people are speculating that he be assassinated
3:55
that others say that he's dead, and I'm of that opinion, and others say that, yes, this is what it is from now on
4:03
The problem is, they... Sorry to interrupt you, you think he might be dead
4:07
Yes. Why do you say that? there's no such thing as an invisible leader, especially in times of war
4:15
You can't lead a nation as big as Persia just by sending letters allegedly signed by somebody who's still alive
4:26
I understand all of that, but now the crowning was not present
4:31
That was a big deal. A cardboard cutout was attending the crowning festival
4:39
Today as well, yesterday we've seen how the cutout was present again
4:45
That's a problem. It's creating a vacuum. It's creating big turbulence within any country
4:53
Except for the cardboard cutout, we have to agree that the widening gap created by the death of his father
4:59
and the absence that he's creating by not showing up, basically is a grand, as he himself being considered as the new grand political and spiritual leaders
5:13
not just for the Iranians, but for the followers of the Shia faith
5:19
Not all of them as well, but a big chunk of them. We're talking about the Lebanese. We're talking about the Iraqis as much as the Yemenis
5:26
If he's not showing up, he will create a big vacuum, as I mentioned earlier
5:31
Yeah. I mean what also interesting isn it is that the whole Iranian revolution was based on the idea that you shouldn have hereditary government You know they wanted to get away from the hereditary government of the Shah They got hereditary government now
5:43
I guess the idea was when that council of elders and experts met that you would have some degree of continuity
5:50
But if you don't actually show the guy or at least, you know, show the voice of the guy who's taken over, you're not going to get that continuity
5:57
Not at all. Besides, the whole issue started years ago. I'm talking about at least three years ago when followers and readers and basically scholars of the modern Iranian policy
6:12
we started discussing who's next in line. And the name Mojtaba always came out as the person that his father was pushing for
6:21
as opposed to the other person was the late president, Ibrahim Raisi
6:26
who was killed and died without any proper investigation going into the matter
6:31
which created another vacuum back in the day. The late Ayatollah was old in age and he was reportedly sick
6:41
So it was time to discuss who was next in line. And when the name Mujtaba came out, nothing was presented in his credentials to show that he's the leader
6:50
And until today, we're talking about at least four months after his father passed away
6:56
that did not show anything basically in his favor. Finally, and briefly, if you don't mind, do you think that at the moment the millions of Iranians who demonstrated on the streets in January, thousands of which were killed by the regime for protesting against it, do you think that even if they're hiding today or keeping shtum during this funeral, you might see them back on the streets as they regain their courage in the coming months
7:21
It's not as easy as you mentioned, but it will take time
7:25
But yes, we will see them back on the streets. Some of them will be peaceful. Others won't
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