Tehran, July 28: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was grappling with a new political crisis that has weakened his standing even among hawkish supporters as the opposition warned it would press on with its protest campaign.
The embattled Ahmadinejad, already forced into a climbdown over his choice of a top aide, was again under fire on Monday over the sacking of the intelligence minister and the resignation of his culture minister.
And in a new defiance of the regime, the Iranian opposition is calling for a ceremony this week to mourn the protesters slain in the aftermath of the bitterly disputed June election that returned Ahmadinejad to power.
“The country’s regime has no choice but to return to the principles of the constitution and if it does not, then people will force it to return,” Ahmadinejad’s defeated rival Mir Hossein Mousavi said.
“The more people you arrest, the more the movement will spread.”
Iran’s judicial chief has ordered a decision soon on the fate of hundreds of detained demonstrators who remain behind bars and urged investigations into complaints of rights violations.
The chaos has also exposed deep divisions within the ruling elite in the republic and led to open criticism of not only Ahmadinejad but also supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The Mehr news agency quoted an “informed source” as saying Intelligence Minister Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie was sacked after a cabinet meeting quarrel with Ahmadinejad over his controversial pick for first vice president.
Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie, who provoked the ire of hawks last year when he said Iran was a “friend of the Israeli people,” finally stepped down as vice president on Saturday after the all-powerful Khamenei personally ordered Ahmadinejad to dismiss him.
Ejeie’s sacking set off a further chorus of criticism among the conservative wing in Iran just days before Ahmadinejad is to be sworn in on August 5 and then set about forming a new cabinet.
“This action was suicidal,” lawmaker Heshmatollah Fellahatpishe said.
MP Mousalreza Servati said 200 lawmakers had written to Ahmadinejad asking him to “correct his behaviour” and follow Khamenei’s words.
Culture Minister Mohammad-Hossein Saffar-Harandi quit on Sunday over what he said were “recent events which show the esteemed government’s weakness.”
The departure of the ministers has compounded Ahmadinejad’s woes, with some suggestions he might need to seek a new vote of confidence in his present cabinet even though he is preparing a new government line-up.
Iran’s constitution stipulates that if half of the 21-member cabinet is reshuffled during its four-year term, a new vote of confidence is required. Ahmadinejad has changed 10 ministers, including Ejeie, in his current mandate.
But Mohammad Jafar Mohammadzadeh, communications director at Ahmadinejad’s office, said the president had rejected Saffar-Harandi’s resignation and “the government does not need to secure a vote of confidence.”
In a move to try to contain the crisis, powerful cleric and former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani — who last week accused the regime of losing the people’s trust — denied he was locked in a power struggle with Khamenei.
“The propaganda by the foreign media who try to suggest there is a power struggle at the top level of the regime is unfair injustice to the Islamic revolution,” he said on Sunday.
Despite the massive crackdown by the authorities on protestors and reformists, the opposition is planning a ceremony on Thursday to mourn slain demonstrators.
“This is a test for the government,” which has banned public such gatherings since the election, Mousavi said in a speech posted on his website.
According to official media, at least 20 people were killed, scores wounded and as many as 2,000 people arrested in the post-election unrest, while two reformist newspapers reported that two protesters had also died in custody.
Judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahrudi has ordered officials to decide within a week on the fate of some 300 protesters still in detention, his spokesman said.
Shahrudi has called for those who did not commit “serious crimes” to be freed and for judicial officials to investigate complaints of rights violations.
-Agencies