It was just the latest in a series of explicit orders by Khamenehi over-turning decisions by the president in his six years in office.
Although the international media likes to portray the two men as close allies with Ahmadi-nejad executing precisely the policies Khamenehi wants, the facts show otherwise.
Khamenehi has voided Ahmadi-nejad decisions a half-dozen times. However, he never publicly reversed either of the two previous presidents—Ali-Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami.
The Intelligence Ministry is one of the sensitive posts for which appointees require the approval of the Supreme Leader. The others are understood to be the foreign, interior and defense ministers.
It isn’t clear why Ahmadi-nejad wanted to replace Moslehi, although some news accounts in Tehran said the president was irate that Moslehi had dismissed Hossain Abdollahi, the deputy intelligence minister who was seen as Ahmadi-nejad’s man inside that agency.
Officially, Moslehi didn’t quit, but resigned. An announcement Sunday morning said Ahmadi-nejad had accepted Moslehi’s resignation, thanked him for his work and appointed him as adviser to the president for intelligence matters.
Two hours later, news agencies carried reports saying Khamenehi had not accepted Moslehi’s resignation and that he remained at his post. It is the first time Khamenehi has ever publicly intervened in a cabinet appointment, although it is understood he has privately vetoed some previous nominees.
The president’s office remained silent after that. Moslehi was in his office the next day and made a public appearance at a ceremony marking the retirement of one of his deputies.
One political analyst told Reuters, “It is a serious blow to Ahmadi-nejad.… The rejection shows who is boss.”
Some Majlis deputies spoke up to criticize the president for wanting to replace Moslehi. The state news agency, which is run by an Ahmadi-nejad appointee, attacked rumors of a split between the president and Supreme Leader. “While the dimensions of this affair are not yet clear, it appears that a new scenario is being shaped to insinuate a rift between the president and the Leader,” the state news agency said.
But that wasn’t really true. Khamenehi has disciplined Ahmadi-nejad publicly before. The first instance came just months after Ahmadi-nejad became president and issued an order that women be allowed to attend soccer matches in stadiums. Many conservative clerics were incensed. Ahmadi-nejad stood his ground. In a few days, Khamenehi issued a public order reversing Ahmadi-nejad’s order—a very public rebuke. Khamenehi could have told Ahmadi-nejad privately that he would have to reverse the directive, but instead took the route of publicly rebuking the president.
Still, the previous rebukes have never seemed to damage Ahmadi-nejad’s political standing or wound him politically.
Khamenehi has repeatedly stated his support for the president and frequently praised him. He did the same when Mo-hammad Khatami was president. And he recently said he thought it was his public duty to give as much support as possible to the elected president. But that hasn’t stopped Khamenehi from publicly overruling Ahmadi-nejad a half dozen times.
Just a few months ago, Ahmadi-nejad fired Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki. Many political figures in Tehran were incensed that the president fired Mottaki while he was on an official trip in Africa. The concern there was that Ahmadi-nejad had acted in a ham-handed and amateurish manner that served only to embarrass the regime and make it look unprofessional.
Moslehi took office 1 1/2 years ago, replacing Gholam-Hossain Mohseni-Ejai, who was also fired by the president. Mohseni-Ejai was quickly named prosecutor general by Sadeq Larijani, the chairman of the Judiciary. Khamenehi was silent about that firing.