In a sign of deepening political crisis in Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today cancelled the meeting of his cabinet that was scheduled to take place on Saturday in the city of Qom. Ahmadinejad holds some of the cabinet meetings in cities outside Tehran, and Qom was to host the government ministers this time. The meeting’s cancellation came after Ahmadinejad’s refusal to attend two previous cabinet meetings this week.
Uskowi on Iran reported earlier that Ahmadinejad has set three conditions for his return as president, including the reversal of Khamenei’s order against his political confident Mashaie to be the country’s First Vice President and the reversal of the supreme leader’s reinstatement of the intelligence minister.
Uskowi on Iran has also learned that Ahmadinejad has asked for the resignation of his minister of interior. The minister, Brig. Gen. Mustafa Mohammad Najjar, who headed the defense ministry prior to his interior post, is a senior IRGC officer and close to the supreme leader. The minister of interior will have considerable influence in the upcoming parliamentary elections scheduled for March 2012. We have previously reported that Ahmadinejad and company would run their own candidates against those chosen by Khamenei and the clerical establishment.
Also in another sign of heightened tensions in Tehran, the Majlis was to hold an extraordinary closed-door session today.
5 comments:
Hi Nader,
I have only one remark about this post, It would be good if you could say that those 3 conditions are your assumptions since you cannot confrim it with Ahmadinejad! you are the only person who claims that he has these conditions with the S.L.
we know that there are some tentions between the 2 camps but I don`t think Ahmadinejad is so naiv to confron the S.L. in this way. He can be removed over one night, the way that Mr. BaniSadr was.....
Hi Ali,
We rarely, very rarely, base our posts on reports we have received from at least two reliable sources with thorough knowledge of the topic. I do stand by what I have reported on the three conditions set by Ahmadinejad for his return to presidency.
I agree with you that what we have reported could have serious consequences for Ahmadinejad, hence the reason we have characterized the developments as political crisis. We cannot say, however, who would come out of this crisis as a stronger politician, Ahmadinejad or Khamenei; but it is safe to assume that the IRI senior leadership will try to put an end to this crisis soon before it further undermines the legitimacy/authority of the system.
I guess I didn't explain clearly what I had in mind. We normally base our posts on reports by news agencies, broadcast and print media, etc. On rare occasions we use independent reports sent to us, and in those occasions we do not publish the reports unless we get at least two independent reports from reliable sources with thorough knowledge of the subject. This is the case here.
Khamenei has really shot himself in the foot with appoiting Ahmadinejad .
I want to give you guys Kudos for covering this latest development that seems to be relatively absent from mainline news.
Thanks to the whole team!
Post a Comment