October 30, 2020
A senior conservative deputy in the Majlis has launched an effort to fire President Rohani, who, he says, deserves execution.
But a few days later, Ahmad Amirabadi-Farahani, a member of the Majlis Presiding Board, said the board had killed the expulsion effort.
The chairman of the Majlis National Security Committee, Mojtaba Zonour, asked the Majlis to dismiss Rohani, despite the fact that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenehi has already ordered the Majlis to do nothing of the sort.
A total of 44 of the 290 representativeas signed a dismissal resolution although 11 deputies later withdrew their signatures, according to a statement from Zonour. “I ask other representatives to sign the document to end the disorders in the country by dismissing the president,” Zonour said. That suggested he thought the protest demonstrations were aimed at Rohani personally rather than at the regime.
To submit a no-confidence motion against the president, the dismissal resolution needs to be signed by at least one-third of the deputies, or 96 deputies, according to Article 89 of the Constitution.
The Presiding Board’s action, adhering to the orders of the Supreme Leader, appears to have nipped Zonour’s effort in the bud.
Conservatives constitute a majority of the deputies in the Majlis that was elected last February and seated in May. They immediately talked about getting rid of Rohani, but Khamenehi quickly told them in unequivocal terms not to do that. He said he believes presidents should be allowed to finish their terms. Rohani only has nine months to go. Khamenehi also pointed out that the process of firing Rohani would likely take several months.
Zonour, however, said Rohani not only deserves to be fired but to be executed “a thousand times” for his conduct.
A few days later, an obviously irritated Khamenehi, without mentioning Zonour by name, said, “You have the right to criticize—but criticism is different from insult.”
Khamenehi then unleashed one of the nastiest rebukes in his quiver by comparing Rohani’s critics with Americans. “Such behavior is the way Americans have notoriously exposed themselves to the world during their debates.”
In a tweet October 16, Zonour made a major point of a comment Rohani made earlier about the early history if Islam.
“If you are justifying negotiations with the enemy by arguing that Imam Hassan reached a peaceful agreement with Mu’awiyah to respect the public’s demand, the overwhelming majority of the Iranian people today will not be satisfied with less than your dismissal, and the Supreme Leader of the Revolution should order you executed one thousand times.”
The Shi’ite second Imam, Hassan ibn Ali (624-670 CE), was elected caliph after his father’s death, but abdicated after six or seven months in favor of his opponent, Muawiyah I, the founder of the Umayyad dynasty.
In a speech on October 14, Rohani had referred to the events of the advent of Islam, insisting that Imam Hassan made peace with Mu’awiyah because “the overwhelming majority of the people” favored peace.
Rohani’s critics immediately described the remarks as a justification for opening talks with the United States, despite the fact that Khamenehi has banned all such talks.
Zonour said Rohani should be condemned to death because the majority of the people are dissatisfied with his performance in office—which puts an interesting cast on the whole concept of electing people to public office.