Ayatollah Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi (photo) has been little heard from since the presidential elections seven months ago. Mesbah-Yazdi, a staunch hard-liner who would just as soon do away with elections, backed Saeed Jalili in the balloting. Jalili was the sole candidate to push a firm hardline and he drew only 11.4 percent of the vote. The daily Arman asks if Mesbah-Yazdi has now decided to withdraw from politics. It notes Mesbah-Yazdi’s relative silence and notes that the website of his political party, the Endurance Front, no longer carries a photo of the cleric.
