For the first time in nearly three weeks, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the intelligence minister Heydar Moslehi were in attendance together at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday. Moslehi was not in attendance when Ahmadinejad chaired the first meeting after he had ended his boycott on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Mojtaba Zolnoor, the representative of the supreme leader at IRGC, said in Tehran today that Ahmadinejad receives the legitimacy of his office from Ayatollah Khamenei. Zolnoor added that if the supreme leader stops his support of the president, Ahmadinejad will become a “taghoot” (an unjust leader who changes the laws of Allah) and following him will become “haraam” (forbidden) [IRNA, 4 May].
UPDATE: Later reports from Tehran indicate that Moslehi was asked by Ahmadinejad to leave the cabinet meeting before the session got underway. This is a hugely important development showing the issue dividing the senior leaders of the Islamic Republic is still unresolved.
