Rafsanjani Appeals for Unity

Arab News:

Defeated presidential contender Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani called on Iranians yesterday to unite behind election winner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, turning the page on his vitriolic complaints over the poll.

“For the sake of the revolution, Iran and the people should be as one and support the president,” Rafsanjani said in a Friday prayer sermon at Tehran University.

“We should try to solve the problems of the country with the help of one another,” the cleric said in his first major public appearance since his shock defeat in the June 24 presidential runoff. READ MORE

In the wake of the landslide win by Ahmadinejad, Rafsanjani complained he had been the victim of a massive smear campaign over his alleged personal fortune and voting irregularities.

Ahmadinejad’s victory has left all of Iran’s elected and unelected institutions in the hands of hard-liners.

Since then Rafsanjani’s position at the top of the regime has been called into question and his aides have signaled he may seek to emerge as the figurehead of a new moderate political force.

But yesterday Rafsanjani, 70, hinted that he wished to maintain a central role in the 26-year-old clerical regime as a counterbalance to far-right wing elements.

“The enemies are plotting against us. If we act in a way that the forces of the revolution become divided, pushed aside or deleted, the probability of the danger becomes more serious,” he said.

“I will only say this: The issues are very, very serious and without coordination, unity, care and prevention of extremism we could face problems. But, InshaAllah, things like that will not happen.”

He also said he did not intend to further contend the shock election result.

“I have been confronted with a flood of telephone calls, messages and letters and all of them relate to the smear campaign. They have heard my answer, they regret what they did and ask my forgiveness,” said Rafsanjani, a former two-term president.

“To those who made the smear campaign: If they were cheated into doing this I forgive them, but if they willingly plotted they should rectify their mistakes. I will not complain against anyone,” he added.

The White House, meanwhile, said yesterday it has unearthed no evidence so far that Ahmadinejad was involved in the 1979 siege of the US Embassy in Tehran.

Several Americans who were held have said they recognized the Ahmadinejad as a ringleader. But two Iranians who were leading figures in the storming of the embassy said he did not take part.

“We continue to look into it to establish the facts,” said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.

Asked if the United States was aware of the allegations before the hostages went public, McClellan noted that President George W. Bush had said on Thursday “that he didn’t have any information.”

Involvement by the new Iranian leader in the 1979-1981 hostage crisis would send a chill through the US government, which has not resumed diplomatic relations with Iran. Fifty-two Americans were held for 444 days.

Ahmadinejad was a founding member of Office to Foster Unity that planned the seizure.

In Tehran, two members of that group who declined to be named said Ahmadinejad did not participate in the hostage-taking, saying he initially opposed the seizure and only supported the move once it was carried out.

The White House spokesman said he could not speak for what information the entire US government might have.

“We’re going back and looking at whatever information we have and trying to establish all the facts,” McClellan said.