TEHRAN, Aug. 2 (UPI) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is facing rising opposition from hard-line members of the parliament, scholars said.
Ahmadinejad more than a year after claiming a re-election victory in contested June 2009 elections is facing challenges that his foreign policy is too aggressive and that he is ruining the national economy.
Farideh Farhi, an Iran expert at the University of Hawaii, told Emirati newspaper The National that Iranian politics are showing signs of disunity.
"There is no doubt that the more centrist wing of Iran's conservatism is worried about being pushed out of Iran's raucous political environment by forces within conservatism that they identify as 'extremist.'" she said.
Mehdi Mohammadi, the editor at the conservative daily newspaper Keyhan complained that Ahmadinejad was ruling as if "all authority should be surrendered to me because I won 25 million votes" in the 2009 contest.
Nevertheless, Ahmadinejad received support in the wake of the elections from the ultimate authority in Iraq, Supreme Leader Ali Khamanei.
Mohammadi, however, warned that a "new movement" was appearing in Iran.
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