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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Battle for Iran shifts from the streets to the heart of power |
| 2009-06-29 |
| [Mail and Globe] The power struggle inside Iran appears to be moving from the streets into the heart of the regime itself this weekend amid reports that Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani is plotting to undermine the power of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Rafsanjani's manoeuvres against Khamenei come as tensions between the speaker of the Parliament, Ali Larijani, and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also appeared to be coming to a head. Mass demonstrations on the streets against the election results have been effectively crushed by a massive police and basiij militia presence that has seen several dozen deaths and the arrests of hundreds of supporters of defeated candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi. But the splits within Iran's political elite are deepening. In the past few days, Larijani -- who was fired by Ahmadinejad as chief negotiator on nuclear issues with the West -- has announced his intention of setting up a parliamentary committee to examine the recent post-election violence in an "even-handed way". In response, Ahmadinejad supporters within the Parliament have discussed the possibility of impeaching Larijani. In a move with even greater potential significance, according to several reports Rafsanjani has been lobbying fellow members of the powerful 86-strong Assembly of Experts, which he chairs, to replace Khamenei as the supreme leader with a small committee of senior ayatollahs, of which Khamenei would be a member. If Rafsanjani were successful, the constitutional change would mean a profound shift in the balance of power within Iran's theocratic regime. "Although Hashemi Rafsanjani is not a popular politician in Iran any more, he is the only hope that Iranians have ... for the annulment of the election," said an Iranian political analyst who asked not be named. "He is the only one who people think is able to stand against the supreme leader." The membership of the Assembly of Experts, which has the power to appoint the supreme leader, is split between those supporting Rafsanjani and those who have gravitated around the highly influential ultra-hardline cleric Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah Yazdi, who is widely seen as both a supporter of Ahmadinejad and the president's religious mentor. Yazdi is also believed to have his own ambitions to succeed Khamenei as supreme leader. Like Ahmadinejad, he is fiercely opposed to the push by reformists for more democratic representation in Iran. Yazdi is also understood to have a large following among both the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps and the basiij militia, both also sources of support for Ahmadinejad. Rafsanjani has long been a proponent of weakening the power of the supreme leader. He is understood to be arguing in favour of replacing Khamenei with a leadership council of three or more senior clerics. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Sounds like Rafsanjani is leaning towards the Soviet Troika model for the Supreme Leader : after Stalin died, there was an agreement that any future leader of the Soviet Union would have to be approved by the Army, the KGB, and the Communist Party. Anyone who failed to get all 3 votes would NOT be made Premier. And it appears Rafsanjani's motives are the same - never again to have a Supreme Leader with the unlimited power of Khomeini. |
| Posted by: Shieldwolf 2009-06-29 18:02 |