Khamenei is Really Alone

Rooz Online

As economic problems deepen in Iran, Principlists (politicians who proclaim to be adherents to the original ideals of the 1979 Islamic revolution and who are closely associated with the current rulers) have embarked on efforts to portray the supreme leader of Iran’s regime to be not responsible for the current economic problems facing the country, while at the same time launching accusations against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s government on these issues. At the same time, a Principlist website this week announced that a pamphlet about Khamenei’s innocence or non-responsibility over the current national issues has been prepared and distributed in Tehran and Qom.

In the meantime, some Principlist figures have been publicly stressing that the supreme leader is “single handed” and “alone” because of his work-load and also because government authorities disregarded his directives, a reference to government officials under direct authority of Ahmadinejad.

Speaking prior to the weekly congregational Friday prayers in Tehran last week, Mohsen Rezai, the secretary of the powerful State Expediency Council, echoed such views when he said, “Iran and the leader of the revolution are truly on their own. Some of his thoughts are on Syria, others are on the Persian Gulf, while still others are on the economic sanctions or that authorities are not performing right.” And while lauding ayatollah Khamenei over the “resistance economy” plan he said, “Resistance economy is a civilization-building struggle. This notion does not mean people should not eat as much as they need. There is much wastage in the country and currently billions are wasted from the resources provided to us by God. Resistance economy does not say that people need to live under hardship or deprived conditions.”

Hassan Tabibi, the representative of the leader in the Saheb al-Zaman Revolutionary Guard Force in the province of Isfahan had similar words. “Iran's economy has come out of being a neck-tie economy meaning that it can no longer be destroyed or strangled from foreign pressure.”

Prior to these remarks, Ali-Reza Panahian, a cleric close to ayatollah Khamenei, had also spoken on the subject but with a different message. He referenced a Qom Theological Center cleric who specialized in history and criticized Khamenei’s historical comments and proclaimed that the Islamic regime was guided by figh (i.e., Islamic jurisprudence) and not by history. “Unfortunately nobody reacted to this mistake which indicates the leader’s isolation among us,” he said. He added that if the supreme leader’s remarks were explained, people would fall in love with the supreme cleric and his solitude among the people would end.

These remarks have been made at a time when some Principlists strive to show that Ali Khamenei continues to enjoy popularity in Iran. Speaking on this subject, the head of the public relations office of the Revolutionary Guards force Mohammad Ali Assodi, recently said, “Our people are adherents of the Ashura (i.e, those who mourn the death of Husein, the grandson of Prophet Mohammad at the battle of Karbala, and who love him) and are willing to be torn to pieces and die and still remain loyal to the Prophet, the Imam and the religious leader of the time.”

The deputy chief of the judiciary branch, Ibrahim Reyisi, had also recently said, “The velayat faghih (i.e., the supreme religious leader) is the central focal point of the Islamic republic of Iran and therefore enemies are striving to portray him as the cause of the current shortcomings and problems. One effort by the enemy is aimed at diminishing the importance of the velayat faghih by launching a psychological war to create despair and gloom among the people by the media.” Earlier, he had also said, “inability to sell oil, non-transfer of oil revenues to the country and the inability of the state to provide basic commodities to the public would result in unemployment and dissatisfaction among people and the elite.”

In another development, the Principlist website Mashreq announced that a booklet titled “The Strategic Chastity of the Velayat Faghih” had been distributed in Tehran and Qom whose contents presented the supreme leader to be innocent and immune from making mistakes. The site questioned this notion and wrote that, “While the writers of these topics possessed revolutionary credentials and were pious individuals, such discussions in the media and public forums were not in the interest of the country.”

In the past too Principlists had made efforts to present the supreme leader to be above mistake and responsibility for current national problems. Mohsen Rezai for example had written that, “Those who believed that the policies of the supreme leader and some other special groups in the country had brought forth the international economic sanctions against the country were dead wrong. The enemy had been planning these steps much earlier and the guidance of the supreme leader and his key policies and strategies were the cause of the successful confrontation against these sanctions.”

Mohammad Golpaygani, the chief of staff of Ali Khamenei’s office had called his boss “a scientist” who was knowledgeable in “all scientific subjects.” A former Majlis chief, Haddad Adel too had earlier supported the notion of resistance economy and has said, “If the enemies are striving for the fall of the Islamic regime, we shall respond by launching the resistance economy as introduced by the supreme leader of the revolution.”

Other clerics and non-clerics too have made public statements in Iran portraying Khamenei to be second to God.

But as these new pronouncements to present Khamenei to be not responsible for the economic plight of Iranians have been aired recently, public criticism of Ahmadinejad’s administration’s policies are on the rise. Alef website belonging to veteran politician Ahmad Tavakoli, for example, recently wrote, “Neither the Iranian economy nor employers in the country have any more patience with the unqualified economic team of the government.