Ahmadinejad dismisses top vice president
25.07.2009 12:31 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Iran’s supreme leader handed a humiliation to the
president, ordering him to dismiss his choice for top deputy after the
appointment drew sharp condemnation from their hard-line base.
The move by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appeared to show his
need to keep hard-liners’ support even at the cost of angering the
president, a close ally – at a time when Khamenei is facing
unprecedented opposition after the disputed June 12 election.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s appointment for his top vice president
sparked a rare split within the hard-line camp to which he belongs. A
chorus of ultra-conservative clerics and politicians denounced his
choice, Esfandiar Rahim Mashai, while Ahmadinejad had strongly
defended the appointment.
Mashai is a relative by marriage to Ahmadinejad – his daughter is
married to the president’s son. Mashai angered hard-liners in 2008
when he said Iranians were "friends of all people in the world – even
Israelis." He was serving as vice president in charge of tourism and
cultural heritage at the time. Iran has 12 vice presidents, but the
first vice president is the most important because he leads Cabinet
meetings in the absence of the president.
After days of controversy, Khamenei ruled. "The view of the exalted
leader on the removal of Mashai from the post of vice president has
been notified to Ahmadinejad in writing," the semiofficial Fars news
agency reported Wednesday.
It was an unusually overt show of authority by Khamenei, who has the
ultimate say in state affairs in Iran. The supreme leader is believed
to often weigh in on senior government appointments behind the scenes,
but it is rare for him to openly order an official’s removal.
In the election dispute, Khamenei strongly supported the president,
who is seen as his protege, declaring valid the results that showed
Ahmadinejad’s re-election. Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi
claims he won the election and Ahmadinejad’s victory is fraudulent,
and hundreds of thousands of supporters marched in the street in the
weeks after the election.
A fierce crackdown suppressed the massive street protests. But the
opposition continues to press its claims that Ahmadinejad’s government
is illegitimate. More importantly, the clerical leadership that
Khamenei in theory leads has been split, with many moderate clerics
angered by the handling of the election crisis or outright supportive
of Mousavi. That has made Khamenei more reliant on hard-line clerics
for support. It was not immediately clear if Ahmadinejad would cave in
to Khamenei’s order.
Ali Akbar Javanfekr, top media adviser to Ahmadinejad, said on Tuesday
that the president won’t change his mind over the controversy. But it
was unclear if his comments came before or after the supreme leader’s
order.
"The president makes his decisions … within the framework of his
legal powers and on the basis of investigations carried
out. Experience has proved that creating baseless controversies won’t
influence the president’s decision," Javanfekr said in his blog.
Nearly the same time as Khamenei was issuing his order late Tuesday,
Ahmadinejad vowed to keep Mashai.
"Mr. Mashai is a supporter of the position of the supreme leader and a
pious, caring, honest and creative caretaker for Iran … Why should
he resign?" the official IRNA news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as
saying. "Mashai has been appointed as first vice president and
continues his activities in the government."
The deputy speaker of the parliament, Mohammad Hasan Aboutorabi-Fard,
meanwhile, said that Mashai’s dismissal was a decision by the ruling
system itself, according to the semiofficial ISNA news.
"Removing Mashai from key posts and the position of vice president is
a strategic decision of the system … Dismissal or resignation of
Mashai needs to be announced by the president without any delay," IRNA
quoted him as saying late Tuesday.
Iran’s state television didn’t report Ahmadinejad’s comments
supporting his deputy. A conservative Web site said TV officials had
orders from higher officials not to do so.
Mashai also angered many of Iran’s top clerics in 2007 when he
attended a ceremony in Turkey where women performed a traditional
dance. Conservative interpretations of Islam prohibit women from
dancing.
He ran into trouble again in 2008 when he hosted a ceremony in Tehran
in which several women played tambourines and another one carried the
Quran to a podium to recite verses from the Muslim holy book, AFP
reported.