Country In Horrible Condition; Ahmadinejad Sole Culprit

Rooz Online

The current economic situation that Iran finds itself in has brought forth sharp criticism from the ruling group of Principlists who directly pointed the finger of blame on one person: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi, the head of the state Inspectorate Organization has said in this regard that Iran was in difficult economic conditions and Hassan Abbasi has said Ahmadinejad had already fallen.

In addition to the criticism of the economic conditions in the country, Pour-Mohammadi also said the Islamic republic was going through a tough time, a picture that Iranian officials avoid presenting in public in the face of Western sanctions imposed because of the country’s disregard for international concerns over its nuclear activities. He said production, employment and innovation faced a lot of problems. “We have difficult conditions and our current economic situation needs unity, planning and ideas which we must strive for through trust and cooperation with each other,” he said.

Pour-Mohammadi is among those former cabinet ministers who recently wrote a letter to Iran’s supreme leader ayatollah Khamenei calling for the establishment of a panel above the three branches of government to find solutions to the economic plight and downturns. “The only action that can be taken under the current conditions to rescue the economy of the country was thought and planning. We must clearly understand the situation and never surrender, and maintain economic production by planning, economizing and technology,” he said.

Another principlist who is considered to be the theoretician of the group, Hassan Abbasi, said Ahmadinejad had already collapsed and added that the appointment of Esfandiar Rahim Mashai as the first presidential deputy was the beginning of Ahmadinejad’s fall so that even “Ali Khamenei was against the appointment.”

Criticizing Ahmadinejad’s famous quote, “I am central,” Abbasi addressed the president and said, “Dear brother, this course [that you are following] brought down Mr. Bazargan, Bani-Sadr, Montazeri, Hashemi (Rafsanjani) and Khatami.” He also made a reference to Ahmadinejad’s 11-day boycott in 2011 after the supreme leader reinstalled his intelligence minister and said, “Did you think that 24 million people who voted for you would pour into the streets?”

In another part of his comments, Abbasi further put down Ahmadinejad by saying he had less “thought than ex-prime minister Mehdi Bazargan, ex-president Khatami and the reformists and was only a traffic engineer.”

In a related development, a group of workers have signed a petition for the minister of labor protesting their conditions and calling for an immediate increase in their wages during the second half of the current Persian year (March 21 to September 21). In the petition, workers point out that their professional benefits have been removed by their employers and write, “The gap between income and current expenditures has reached catastrophic levels and the life and belongings of workers is threatened by complete destruction.”

Another Tehran newspaper questioned the need for Ahmadinejad to go to New York writing, “Under the current horrific foreign exchange conditions and the devaluation of the value of the national currency, what is going on in New York that the head of the government and his entourage have gone there?”