Pompeo: Khamenei fears free elections more than anything else

The US Secretary of State has accused the Islamic Republic's leader on his Twitter account of being "more afraid than anything of holding free elections."

Mike Pompeo asked on his Twitter account, an hour before voting began for the Islamic Consultative Assembly elections, "Why did Khamenei deny the right of 7,000 or more Iranians to participate in the elections?"

The US Secretary of State is referring to the widespread disqualifications by the Guardian Council. The members of the Guardian Council are selected or nominated by the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic and the head of the judiciary, who is himself selected by the Supreme Leader.

Mike Pompeo continued his tweet by writing, "Because he [the leader of the Islamic Republic] fears a free election more than anything else."

Mr. Pompeo then referred to the new sanctions imposed by the Donald Trump administration against the Guardian Council.

On March 1, one day before the parliamentary elections, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on several members of the Guardian Council.

Ahmad Jannati, the secretary of the Guardian Council, is at the forefront of the sanctions; alongside him are Mohammad Yazdi, a member of the Guardian Council's jurisprudents, Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, the council's spokesman, Siamak Rahpeek, and Mohammad Hassan Sadeghi Moghadam, members of the Guardian Council's legal profession.

Brian Hook, the US State Department's Iran Policy Officer, said in an interview with Radio Farda, "If the Islamic Republic is truly a republic, it should not be afraid of the voices and opinions of its people."

In response to these sanctions, the Guardian Council spokesman, while "expressing happiness," said, "America has always made threats and enmities against the Iranian people over the past 41 years and has received its response."

The elections for the 11th term of the Islamic Consultative Assembly and the by-term elections for the Assembly of Experts are currently underway in Iran.

According to reports, between 14,000 and 16,000 people had registered to compete for 290 seats in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, but only 6,850 people were approved by the Guardian Council.

Source: Radio Farda