Leader Instructed Majlis to Cooperate with Administration

Rooz Online

Shortly after a Majlis supervisory committee published a report Speaker Ali Larijani responded by announcing that ayatollah Khamenei had asked the Majlis to support the administration of Hassan Rouhani.

At the first session of Majlis’s joint committee Larijani said, “Based on the fifth development plan, 3 percent must be added to the 20 percent share of the development reserve fund from oil revenues every year. Next year is the fifth year of this plan and so 12 percent must be added to the 20 percent in the share of the fund.”

According to Larijani, Rouhani’s administration had sent a letter on this issue to ayatollah Khamenei who had told him that since he did not want to issue a formal order to the Majlis, had instructed him verbally to that the Majlis pay attention to this issue and that Majlis representatives should cooperate with the administration so this takes place.

Reports of such support from Iran’s supreme leader for the administration has been published a number of times in recent months. Khamenei has been publicly supportive of Rouhani’s efforts in areas of foreign policy and the economy, while such support is not as strong in some other areas such as domestic and cultural issues.

Despite continuous criticism that hardliners raise against Iran’s nuclear talks and Rouhani’s foreign policy, ayatollah Khamenei has generally approved of these policies. And while he has not expressly said anything in public about the nuclear interim agreements and extensions, he has said that he generally supports the talks and categorized the country’s negotiation’s team as “children of the revolution.”

While meeting government officials last July, ayatollah Khamenei said he would do everything in his power “to help the administration” and added that he trusted the senior officials of the government. “We trust our negotiations team and are certain that they will not allow the rights of the country and the nation, and the dignity of people to turn into games and will not allow this to happen.”

But despite such public support, there have been issues and times when his support was not absolute. For example, last year after Rouhani returned from his trip to New York where he had travelled to attend the UN General Assembly annual gathering but had also spoken on the telephone with US president Barack Obama, Khamenei had said, “We support the government’s new diplomatic initiative and view diplomacy as important and support what took place during this trip. Still, while some of what took place during the trip was not appropriate we are optimistic over our diplomatic team but are pessimistic about Americans.”

Last week, Rouhani made a number of public statements about his administration’s foreign policy and nuclear talks which were criticized by hardline principlists in the ideologue camp. He had said, “Who has talked about principles and ideals at the talks? Some people live under illusions. In today’s world, talks are about interests. Our ideals are not tied to centrifuges but to our minds, hearts and our will.”

And in a major departure, he also talked of a national referendum in the same speech to decide over “essential issues in the country.”

These remarks brought forth a response from ayatollah Khamenei himself who said, “Sanctions have created issues for the country but if the enemy conditions their lifting to some fundamental issues and ideals, including discarding Islam, independence, and scientific progress, then the dignity of no authority will accept that. Of course the enemy at this point in time has not touched on our ideals but if we retreat then they will go after our ideals. Therefore, we must alert and understand the goals behind the proposals, words and steps of the enemy.”

When Rouhani came to office in mid-2013, ayatollah Khamenei’s announced instructions on “heroic flexibility” policy and approach towards diplomatic efforts were interpreted to indicate his support for the new diplomatic efforts over the nuclear issue. At that time, in a meeting with Revolutionary Guard commanders, the leader had said, “The sphere of diplomacy is that of smiles, requests and talks. These must be understood in the essential framework of the challenges. I approve of the issue that I had called “heroic flexibility” years before because this initiative is at times very good and necessary, but only with a key commitment.”

Khamenei’s support in the realms of the economy and cultural issues has not been as strong. An example of this is that he has stopped Rouhani from fulfilling his promise of lifting the house arrest situation of Mir-Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karoubi and Zahra Rahnavard. An indication of his views on the detention of the three leaders of the Green Movement became apparent when it was reported that he had told Ali Motahari, during a visit by a minority Majlis faction, that the regime had till then been “considerate” of the Mousavi and Karoubi.

A few months ago, the leader had also warned of the presence of “seditionists” in the government and executive agencies and said that these were the red lines that should not be crossed. Sedition is a term supporters of ayatollah Khamenei use for the leaders of the Green Movement and the protests of 2009 against the controversial presidential elections of that year which reinstated Ahmadinejad as president.

The biggest problem that Khamenei has with Rouhani’s administration appears to be in the area of culture. During a meeting with members of the Experts Assembly last March, Khamenei expressed his concerns about the cultural conditions in the country and said, “I too am concerned about cultural issues. The government must pay attention to this, as must cultural officials about what is going on. We cannot be indifferent about cultural issues. These remarks resulted in very pointed attacks against Rouhani’s ministry of culture by hardline ideologue principlists.