It is widely assumed within Iran that the president was exceedingly peeved when Supreme Leader Ali Khamenehi overruled the dismissal of Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi and ordered Moslehi to stay in his post. It is almost uniformly accepted that Ahmadi-nejad stayed away from his office in anger over that.
That, however, does make a great deal of sense. First, Ahmadi-nejad has been publicly overruled by Khamenehi a half dozen times. The president has simply smiled and gone about his business without comment. Second, acting peeved over a decision by the Supreme Leader is no way to please the Leader or the bulk of the revolutionary ideologues for whom obedience to the Leader is the top priority for all Iranians to acknowledge.
Ahmadi-nejad, 54, was widely viewed as being in a snit and acting both unprofessionally and immaturely, which eroded his standing with many.
He could have buried the matter easily by saying he was sick and stayed away so as not to infect anyone else. But he didn’t say that. He didn’t say anything substantive.
While the president was on strike, the Supreme Leader mildly chastised him, saying no one in the regime should ever do anything that would allow foreign enemies to suggest that there was division among the leadership of Iran.
On his return, Ahmadi-nejad said, “We will never allow enemies to take advantage of matters inside the country. No doubt those who thought an opening had been created and they could harm the Iranian people and regime will realize once again that they have made a mistake.”
But he didn’t say why he went on strike for a week—or why he had returned to work. Asked about that, he told the state news agency: “My staying at home had certain reasons and those will be kept in my heart.”
All was left a mystery with the both Khamenehi and Ahmadi-nejad papering over matters by pointing to the hated foreign enemies as the explanation for everything.
The controversy began Sunday, April 17, when Ahmadi-nejad’s office announced that Moslehi, 54, had resigned and Ahmadi-nejad had accepted his resignation. But one and all understood that Moslehi was forced to resign.
Within just two hours, Khamenehi’s office called news agencies and told them the Supreme Leader had not accepted the resignation and ordered Moslehi to stay at his post. Moslehi was at his office the next day.
On Wednesday, news reports said Moslehi had not been invited to that day’s cabinet meeting by Ahmadi-nejad. But since cabinet ministers automatically attend cabinet meetings, it appeared that Ahmadi-nejad’s office had told Moslehi to stay away.
Ahmadi-nejad continued business as usual though Saturday. The president did not come to his office Sunday or attend the cabinet meeting that day. Moslehi did attend the cabinet meeting. The meeting was chaired by First Vice President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi. That suggested to some that Khamenehi must have quietly intervened to tell Ahmadi-nejad he couldn’t keep the intelligence minister away from cabinet meetings.
Ahmadi-nejad stayed away from his office on successive days and did not attend last Wednesday’s cabinet meeting, which Moslehi did attend.
After seven full days away from his office, Ahmadi-nejad returned to work on Sunday and attended that day’s cabinet meeting. Moslehi did not attend as he was on a trip to Qom that day.
It remains to be seen if Ahmadi-nejad will attend the next cabinet meeting after Moslehi returns to town.
The president seems to have a fascination with boycotting meetings. He has not attended a single session of the Expediency Council, chaired by rival Ali-Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, for well over a year.
It isn’t clear if Ahmadi-nejad’s return puts paid to the bizarre incident.
For one thing, the president has not announced that Moslehi is his intelligence minister. Moslehi is clearly staying—but how is the president going to deal with that fact?
Another open problem is a growing anger with Ahmadi-nejad in the Majlis. There was talk during the week about impeaching the president. That appears to be just so much talk. But there is clearly an interest among many members in interrogating Ahmadi-nejad. The Constitution allows the president to be summoned to the Majlis to undergo questioning. No president has ever been summoned.
But last week, Mohammad-Javad Abtahi, the deputy from Khomeinishahr, announced that 52 signatures had been gathered on a petition to demand Ahmadi-nejad’s presence in the chamber for questioning. The Constitution says the president can be summoned if the petition garners the signatures of one-fourth of the deputies or 72 signatures.
Earlier, 216 deputies or three-quarters of the 290 members signed a statement telling Ahmadi-nejad he must obey the Supreme Leader without question—a severe rebuke over the Moslehi incident.
If summoned to the Majlis, the president is likely to face questioning not only about his absence but also about his practice of ignoring laws enacted by the Majlis. Right now, the body is trying to discipline the president for refusing to establish a Ministry for Sports and Youth as required by legislation.
Deputies could also question him about his ignoring of the law to slowly phase out subsidies over five years. Ahmadi-nejad raised the price of gasoline to world market levels in one fell swoop in December. But silence on this issue has thus far been enforced by edict of the Supreme Leader.
There is also much talk that the president is not interested in enforcing the dress code. He has on several occasions belittled the dress code. At his first news conference after his 2005 election, he said, “I have better things to do” than enforce the dress code. It did not become an issue, however, until recent months when he made more disparaging remarks about coercing women to abide by the dress code. As a practical matter, the police have gone ahead and enforced the code without any involvement by the president.
There is much speculation in Tehran that the presidential strike is somehow linked to Ahmadi-nejad’s presumed effort to set the stage for his close buddy and aide, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, to succeed him as president in 2013. Some have argued that to achieve that Ahmadi-nejad must control the Intelligence Ministry, because it is one of the bodies that investigates applicants who seek to run for president.
But the Intelligence Ministry’s role is marginal. Many others can dredge up bad things about presidential wannabes. It is the Council of Guardians that makes the decision—based upon standards that have never been explained, probably because they do not exist—on whose names go on the ballot.
Furthermore, engaging in a snit is hardly a way to convince the Supreme Leader that the president should be able to change his intelligence minister.
The president appoints all ministers, but there is an unwritten rule that the four security ministries are under the sway of the Leader—intelligence, foreign affairs, interior and defense. Normally, however, presidents have cleared their nominations for all 21 cabinet slots with the Leader before announcing them.
In December, Ahmadi-nejad fired the foreign minister, Man-ouchehr Mottaki, who had supported Ali Larijani in the 2005 presidential elections. Mottaki was never Ahmadi-nejad’s choice, but was forced on him. Khamenehi said nothing over Mottaki’s firing. But Moslehi’s firing may have been one minister too many for the Supreme Leader.
The bottom line is that Ahmadi-nejad’s weeklong strike is being widely portrayed in Iran as his challenging the authority of he Supreme Leader. And that is the road to diminishing his authority, not increasing it.