Rafsanjani ally switches allegiance to hard-line Iran president

Iran Focus: a pro-MEK website

The former Supreme Commander of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards praised the country’s hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for “the success of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the recent session of the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency”.

In a letter to Ahmadinejad that was reported by the state-run media, Mohsen Rezai lauded the new president’s decision “to do away with 16 years of unilateral efforts at détente [with the West], which have brought us nothing”.

“They [the West] are trying to buy time and may even have a deceptive plan against Iran, but no one can fail to see the victory of Iran in the recent IAEA meeting”, Rezai wrote.

The former Revolutionary Guards chief noted that “the Iranian people reached the conclusion that they must change their strategy, because the two former presidents gained nothing in their relationship with the West. We must show the West and Europe that they made a mistake and that Iran is not going to retreat or give further concessions”. READ MORE

After leaving the Revolutionary Guards, Rezai aligned himself with former President Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and became secretary of the State Expediency Council, the arbitrary body headed by Rafsanjani. Rezai’s letter to Ahmadinejad shows that he is switching his allegiance from the former president to the radical positions of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Rezai said the new president’s tough approach had “prevented them [the West] from carrying out any rash action that would violate our national rights and compelled them to distance themselves from trying to impose something on Iran”.

“You showed that the policy of logically standing firm in defence of national rights and benefits is the correct and successful strategy to follow”, Rezai wrote to Ahmadinejad.

Rezai congratulated the hard-line president for his “successful first step” in Iran’s foreign policy, which he said was the resumption of suspended nuclear enrichment activities at the Uranium Conversion Facility in Isfahan. In its September meeting, the IAEA board of governors strongly condemned Iran for violating an earlier agreement reached with the EU-3 – Britain, France, and Germany – but the watchdog body’s board failed to take any position on Iran in a meeting held earlier this month in Vienna. The indecision was trumpeted by Iran’s hard-line rulers as a victory for their uncompromising stance.

The former IRGC chief told President Ahmadinejad that he expected further gains in the months ahead.