Khamenei’s illness puts nuclear deal at risk

The frail health of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has set off a power struggle in Tehran that may derail the nuclear deal which he must ratify. This is reported bt the London Daily Telegraph’s Con Coughlin. The 75-year old leader has undergone several operations for prostate cancer and some Iranian media suggest his condition is terminal and Iran’s strongman has only months to live. The frontrunner as successor is one of Khamenei’s protégés, Sadeq Larijani, 54, head of the judiciary and a leading hardliner, who is jockeying for endorsement by the Assembly of Experts. He is the brother of Ali Larijani, Iran’s former chief nuclear negotiator and incumbent speaker of the Majlis, the Iranian parliament. Sadeq is conducting a purge against the more moderate ayatollahs who may run against him and pressing a campaign to ditch the nuclear deal..