Ahmadinejad’s kitchen cabinet under pressure

A growing confrontation between Iran’s clerical rulers and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is spilling over to unusually direct criticism of the president’s inner circle of advisers.

Hard-line ayatollahs and representatives of the Revolutionary Guard Corps who were instrumental in bringing Ahmadinejad to power in 2005 now accuse his top aides of plotting to push Shiite clerics from politics. Although Ahmadinejad, who has become increasingly isolated, has relied closely on his tightknit group, the critics are demanding that the president cut all ties with his team.

In an apparently orchestrated effort, official state media have started reporting that some members of his inner circle are relying on fortune-tellers; others are charged with embezzling government money. Official publications have begun referring to Ahmadinejad’s four top aides as leaders of a “deviant’” political current that is trying to gain absolute power in the country.

The moves against the advisers follow a recent series of public clashes between the president and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and signal a growing challenge to Ahmadinejad’s grip on power.

The president’s advisers represent “the most dangerous current in the history of Shiite Islam,” said Mojtaba Zolnour, a leading cleric in the Revolutionary Guard forces, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported last week. Another former supporter, hard-line ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi, recently called those close to the president “garbage” and “trash.”

There has often been competition between Iran’s several power centers over the 32 year history of the Islamic Republic. But the blunt personal attacks against Ahmadinejad and his team are extraordinary, and there are indications that the pressure might be mounting. Last week, semi-official media in Iran reported that a planned state visit by Ahmadinejad to neighboring Armenia had been canceled when two of his advisers were not allowed to leave the country.

Some Iranian politicians and analysts say they believe the supreme leader has given the president a final chance to remove the aides, and that if he does not do so, he could face impeachment.

Although a decision to remove the president could bring instability and political costs for Khamenei, Ahmadinejad “could be removed if the leadership would see that fitting,” said Amir Mohebbian, a political analyst who in the past supported the government, but is now critical of its policies.

Analysts say that the attacks on the advisers are aimed at further isolating Ahmadinejad, who would be left further weakened and alone without his aides around him.

Iran’s judiciary said this month that at least a dozen people connected to the president had been arrested since April. The group did not include any of the president’s closest advisers.

Ahmadinejad has refused to address the charges publicly, and recently he ostentatiously appeared for a photo opportunity with closest and most controversial aide, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, the focal point of his critics’ ire.

Source: The Washington Post