Religious leaders snub Khamenei during Qom visit

NCRI – Despite the Iranian regime’s propaganda and pressures, religious leaders in Qom ‎refused to take part both in ceremonies meant to welcome the mullahs’ Supreme Leader ‎to the city as well as the meetings where he spoke

Shortly prior to Khamenei’s speech at Qom’s Astaneh Square, the state-run Mehr news ‎agency said that a number of religious leaders were sitting in a booth reserved for special ‎guests.‎

But, in a later report, Mehr only said that several members of the regime’s Assembly of ‎Experts, including Mesbah Yazdi, Boushehri, and Moqtadai attended the speech, adding ‎that several “representatives” of the offices of Qom’s religious leaders were also in ‎attendance without naming them.‎

Separately, the Iranian regime had ordered all shops in Qom to be closed on Tuesday ‎when Khamenei arrived in Qom. According to state-run media, religious seminaries were ‎also declared officially closed. A large number of the regime’s agents and cohorts were ‎brought into the city from various other cities, including Tehran, to greet Khamenei.‎