visit to Qom to try to ease some of the strained relations with many senior clerics there.
Very little news is coming out of the trip, except for that issued by the Leader’s own office.
Aerial photos taken of Khamenehi’s arrival show immense and wildly enthusiastic crowds greeting him. The large size of the crowds might be due in part to the fact that schools were closed for his arrival. But that does not explain the evident enthusiasm.
Khamenehi, 71, rode through the streets in a bulletproof limousine with the windows closed. He did not expose himself to the crowd the way Ahmadi-nejad always does on his provincial trips.
Reporters and analysts are left to peruse the photos issued by the leader’s office to see whom he is meeting with.
The photos show that one of the most senior clerics in the country, Grand Ayatollah Lotfollah Safi Golpayegani came to pay his respects to Khamenehi.
Also photographed with Khamenehi has been Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem-Shirazi, a clergyman who has often been critical of the president, but from the far right.
But thus far, none of the other grand ayatollahs has been pictured with Khamenehi.
After the elections last June, none of the grand ayatollahs were reported to have sent messages of congratulations to President Ahmadi-nejad, an absence that was widely seen as a sign of dissention—the kind of dissention that Khamenehi is presumably seeking to deal with on this trip to Qom.
Khamenehi addressed that as soon as he arrived in Qom. In a public address, the Leader said, “Unity with the three branches of the government must strengthen every day, especially with the Executive Branch [led by Ahmadi-nejad], which must carry a great many burdens on its shoulders.”
While most grand ayatollahs have chosen silence, three senior clerics have been publicly and vocally critical of Ahmadi-nejad from the left. All of them supported one of Ahmadi-nejad’s opponents last year. None of them has been seen in the company of Khamenehi so far on this trip. In fact, all three have been harassed by the regime over the past year.
The visit is being touted throughout the media as a sign of unity among the clergy and support for the rulership of Khamenehi.
Unity is perhaps he single most important attribute in the political rhetoric of Khamenehi. The photos from the trip certainly convey the spirit of unity. But the inability to get any information about the visit other than what Khamenehi’s office chooses to issue raises understandable doubts.