Mahmoud is in a Bad Mood

Iran is a land of turmoil and contrasts. It would be hard to find a more pro-American group outside the U.S. than among educated upper middle class Iranians, but none of them could ever publicly utter such sentiments without risk of imprisonment or worse. Dressed in Western clothes, replete with spiky heels, the women of this class are very in tune with fashion trends in Paris… under the ugly chadors they are forced to wear in public. For the rank and file in this theocracy, however, Iranian Shiite purity led by the highest prelates in the faith are squarely opposite all things American, even as nascent freedom movements reach out to the rest of the world through digital communications and frustrated protests.

There is an equal struggle between secular and religious factions at the top of Iran’s leadership. The Holocaust-denying vitriolic anti-American, anti-Israeli President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who looks unstoppable to many in the West, is in fact getting slammed as he takes on the clerics who actually control the politics of this nation and can veto any legislative move that they feel is contrary to their religious interpretations of the Qur’an. As parliamentary elections approach, this jockeying for position between clerics and Ahmadinejad takes on very interesting proportions.

It all started when Ahmadinejad was reelected as President in 2009. He had already passed muster with the clerics, who in fact screen all candidates, but immediately after winning a second term, Mahmoud began a press for more secular power for him and the Revolutionary Guards at the expense of the religious leaders. The rift became very public in early May as the intelligence chief that Ahmadinejad fired was ordered immediately reinstated by the supreme leader, the Ayatollah Khamenei. Ahmadinejad immediately was then photographed, humble, at Khamenei’s side, but the peace did not last long.

“President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad suffered fresh defeats in the Iranian parliament [June 21^st] as a dispute with the country’s supreme leader over government appointments continued to simmer… The latest casualties were a deputy foreign minister and a nominee to head a newly established Ministry of Sports and Youth… Under pressure from Ahmadinejad opponents, Mohammad Sharif Malekzadeh resigned [June 21^st] as the new deputy to Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, a move that headed off a drive by lawmakers to impeach Salehi over the appointment. Malekzadeh, a member of Ahmadinejad’s inner circle, is viewed by hard-liner [meaning conservative religious, backing the clerics] opponents as part of a movement aimed at weakening the leading role of Iran’s powerful Shiite Muslim clerics.

“The resignation came as parliament voted [June 21^st] against confirming Hamid Sajjadi as Ahmadinejad’s candidate to lead the new Sports Ministry, state news media reported… Both incidents illustrate Ahmadinejad’s growing problems in placing his supporters in key positions, following a dispute with the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, over appointments in April… Iran’s parliament is now successfully blocking presidential decisions after years of losing political battles to the government.” Washington Post, June 21^st.

The summary of what is really going on is interestingly presented in the May 12^th Aljazeera.net: “Since the disputed election which returned him to power in 2009, Ahmadinejad has tried to advance an Iran with minimal clerical influence run by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. This is the reason many members of the establishment believe he is a threat to the system... The motivations of conservatives around Khamenei trying to discredit him seem clear: upcoming parliamentary elections are an opportunity to deny hardline supporters of the president the chance to win a clear parliamentary majority. And as their long-term goal, Iran's traditional conservatives and clerics, backed by Khamenei, are striving to prevent an Ahmadinejad protege from becoming the next president in 2013.system....

“Ahmadinejad is still not finished, but conservatives in the parliament are doing their best to seal his fate. They are demanding that the president appear before the parliament for questioning over his competence to govern. Such a proceeding could be a precursor to a formal impeachment hearing.” So the all-powerful, nuclear saber-rattling Ahmadinejad is having his wings clipped, effectively minimizing the power that he really can exert both in internal matters as well as foreign affairs.

I’m Peter Dekom, and looking beneath the surface of public politics frequently provides insights as to what is really going on.