Government Should Implement the Law Without Excuses

This week’s remarks by Iran’s supreme leader ayatollah Ali Khamenei mark as the final straw in the recent attacks against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his allies.

These remarks made to a group of Majlis representatives come as protests against the recent appointment of a new governor general in the province of Shiraz still continue and principlists in the Majlis have expressed their opposition to the planned visit by the government’s foreign minister to Saudi Arabia.

In addition to these pressures on Ahmadinejad and his administration, a group of Majlis representatives for the fourth time last week sent a letter to Majlis leader Ali Larijani calling for an investigation of Ahmadinejad’s constitutional violations.

Implementation of Law: Without Excuses

During the May 28th, 20011 visit of Majlis representatives, ayatollah Khamenei called on the government to implement the country’s laws without any excuses. He also touched on an issue that has been central in recent Iranian politics and said, “Nobody should interfere in elections in any manner,” just as a group of principlist personalities who support the president had expressed their concerns over such interference as well.

This statement by the leader also comes at a time when Ahmadinejad’s brother criticized the president’s associates and warned that, “a deviant group was working to emerge victorious in the [upcoming] Majlis elections for which it was spending billions [of Toman] and mobilizing all counter-revolutionary groups.”

Just a day prior to Khamenei’s remarks, twelve Majlis deputies published an open letter to the parliament’s leader requesting an investigation into Ahmadinejad’s constitutional violations. In the letter they pointed out that despite the Guardian Council’s rejection of Ahmadinejad’s caretaker status of the ministry of oil, the president continued to act as one and had issued orders to hire 4907 new staff at the agency.

In addition to this letter, Majlis deputy ayatollah Mesbahi Moghadam told reporters that while it was not, “difficult for the Majlis to question the president, it did not do so because of prudence. There are many issues regarding the president on which the Majlis can question the president.”

In a separate statement Mohammad-Reza Bahonar, the first deputy of the leader of the Majlis, said that the president was in violation for not issuing the executive order for the establishment of the ministry of sports while he only had June 2 to nominate a minister for the ministry of housing. He pointed that the Majlis was waiting in this regard because of a decree issued by ayatollah Khamenei. Another indication that pressure and criticism on Ahmadinejad is on the rise and spreading are the remarks made by Mohammad-Hossein Saffar Herandi, the former minister of Islamic Guidance, who told a group of Ansare Hezbollah members that Ahmadinejad was in such a bad condition that he needed prayers, “Ahmadinejad has become inflicted with a problem and must be prayed to be rescued.”

Representatives Protest Against Government’s Actions

Principlists (ideologues supporting Ahmadinejad) in the province of Fars continue to protest against the initial appointment and subsequent dismissal three days later of a new governor general for the province of Fars. A group of principlist students too had announced earlier that they would hold protest demonstrations in front of the governor general’s office in Fars. They claim that the new governor general was a friend of controversial Ahmadinejad protégé Esfandiar Rahim Mashai. Jaafar Ghaderi, the Majlis deputy from Shiraz announced that because of the protests in his province in this regard, all “executive activities had come to a standstill.” He questioned the appointment and then dismissal of the governor general saying the administration lied in this regard “because we know that the governor had not in fact resigned.” He further said that protesters had locked and sealed the main gate to the governor general’s headquarters in the province thus denying anyone access to it.

In another related development, Kazem Jalali, the spokesperson for the Majlis national security committee called for the cancellation of foreign minister Ali-Akbar Salehi’s planned trip to Saudi Arabia. He said that the Saudi regime had committed crimes which necessitated that the Islamic republic confront it rather than thank it. Hardline state operated Kayhan newspaper also asserted that the Saudi regime had committed crimes and that the upcoming trip to Riyadh had been planned by the “deviant forces” inside the administration who were trying to repair the damage that had been caused recently when they had attempted to send minister Salehi to Saudi Arabia. Deviant forces is a term that the ruling circles in the Iranian regime use for those individuals who oppose some of the hardline policies of the administration.

It should be noted that Ahmadinejad has not till now been invited to the Khordad 14 ceremonies marking the anniversary of Khomeini’s death. Some of his associates have said that he would not deliver a talk even if he were invited. It should be noted that many of his bills have run into problems in the Majlis and the voices calling for his impeachment are growing louder.

What is still not clear is whether the leader of the Islamic regime has come to the conclusion that it was time to replace Ahmadinejad regardless of the costs.