Iran's Former President Hits Out at Present Incumbent

Gareth Smyth in Tehran, The Financial Times:

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Iran’s former president and veteran of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, on Wednesday attacked president Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad for damaging “national unity and solidarity”. Mr Rafsanjani’s speech to the country’s Friday prayer leaders, carried on official news agencies, came two days after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, called on “all citizens” to support Mr Ahmadi-Nejad’s government. READ MORE

Past disagreements between Mr Rafsanjani and Ayatollah Khamenei have almost always been in private, and such a clash points to a serious struggle in Iran’s ruling elite.

Mr Rafsanjani had previously made vague criticisms of Mr Ahmadi-Nejad, especially over his belligerence in foreign policy including a call to “wipe Israel off the map”.

But in Wednesday’s speech, Mr Rafsanjani, although not mentioning Mr Ahmadi-Nejad’s name, made a clear and comprehensive attack on the man who defeated him in June’s president election.

“Our society has been divided into two poles and some people are behaving aggressively,” he said.

Mr Rafsanjani - who chairs the Expediency Council, which arbitrates between state bodies – criticised “a current” for “trying to remove and isolate invaluable individuals and efficient managers.”

Since Mr Ahmadi-Nejad was inaugurated in August, the government has announced the change of 40 out of 72 ambassadors, including some of Iran’s most seasoned diplomats, and recently sacked seven managing-directors of state banks.

Some of those removed are considered allies of Mr Rafsanjani, who may now be trying to defend others likely to be purged.

Mr Rafsanjani also attacked the president for “vague pictures” in his proclaimed fight against corruption, focused on what Mr Ahmadi-Nejad calls the “oil mafia”.

“Uttering words in which everyone is questioned is not fighting corruption,” Mr Rafsanjani said. “If you know who is economically corrupt, announce the name and put him on trial.”

With reports of capital flight and the Tehran stock exchange down over 20 per cent since June’s election, Mr Rafsanjani said both foreign and domestic capital were needed for Iran to reach a targeted 8 percent growth rate.

“We will be forced to kneel down if development is not continued seriously,” he said. “If we think we can run the country only with existing facilities, then we are making a big mistake.”

Iran’s newspapers reported on Wednesday there had again been no co-ordination between president and parliament over Mr Ahmadi-Nejad’s latest nominee for the vacant oil ministry, Mohsen Tasalloti.

Most analysts felt Mr Tasalloti is more likely to win a parliamentary vote of approval than two earlier nominees rejected after deputies questioned their experience and competence.

Iran, Opec’s second biggest producer, has been without an oil minister since Mr Ahmadi-Nejad took over in August.