Khaberni - "Le Figaro" wrote about a coup attempt within the Iranian regime targeting the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to prevent him from managing the crisis, just before the country experienced the peak of protests in January.
According to the French newspaper's report, the initiative took shape during the night between January 7 and 8, a day before the peak of the protests in which thousands of demonstrators were killed.
Informed sources reported that the former President Hassan Rouhani led the plan along with prominent figures from his previous government, including former Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, as well as several clergymen from the city of Qom and figures close to the Revolutionary Guard. The main objective of the meeting was to remove Khamenei from the decision-making circle.
However, the attempt ultimately failed due to the lack of support from Ali Larijani, who was appointed in August as the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council. The report mentioned that the current President Masoud Pezeshkian was kept out of the discussion circle to prevent the plot from being revealed. After the plan was exposed, house arrest was imposed on Rouhani and Zarif for several days, and reformist figures close to them were temporarily detained.
In a notable development, the New York Times revealed that Larijani, who thwarted the internal coup, had been handed the responsibility of managing the state from Khamenei a little over a month prior. Since then, 67-year-old Larijani has been effectively running the country, pushing President Pezeshkian to the sidelines.
Larijani's powers have increasingly expanded over recent months, where he was responsible for suppressing last month's bloody protests, and is now tasked with containing resistance pockets against the regime. He also manages the coordination file with Iran's regional and international allies, including Russia, Qatar, and Oman. Additionally, he oversees nuclear negotiations with Washington and prepares contingency plans for managing the state in the event of a war with the United States.
