Mahbubeh Niknahad

Three newspapers that support the so called Principalists in Iran, i.e. the right wing ‎ideologues that support President Ahmadinejad, simultaneously criticized the chief ‎executive for his actions over the removal of the Interior and Economics ministers, and ‎exchanges with Danesh Jaafari and Majlis Speaker Haddad Adel. The publications ‎accused the president of injecting discord, creating conflict among the Principalists, ‎making false accusations, disrupting public peace-of-mind, disrupting national security ‎and making impulsive and superficial decisions.‎

These opinions are being published at a time when some of the leaders of this faction ‎have also voiced concerns about the growing friction among the Principalists. Ayatollah ‎Makarem Shirazi, for example, aired public criticism of the President and Adel ‎requesting them to settle their issues in private and refrain from going public over similar ‎differences. Imami Kashani, another ayatollah who is a member of the powerful ‎Guardian’s Council requested at last week’s Friday prayers that the leaders of the regime ‎settle their differences and think about serving the public. Even the leading ayatollah ‎Khamenei touched on the subject during a public talk last Wednesday warning against ‎the “atmosphere of discord, conflict, and unnecessary exposures and criticism” calling on ‎the authorities not “to provide excuses to opponents of the regime” or “make the enemies ‎happy.”‎

But despite all of this, only a few hours after last week’s run off elections, which ‎according to the dismissed minister of the interior had brought victory to the Principalists, ‎three right-wing newspapers published opinion in criticism of the President and his ‎government indicating that the differences that exist among the rulers will not be easily ‎reconciled.‎

Resalat, the established supporter of the traditional right in Iran on Saturday published an ‎editorial in which it said the removal of 2 cabinet ministers provided the excuses for more ‎tensions and differences, adding, “In all honesty, was removing 2 key cabinet ministers ‎just 2 days before the run off elections – an action that provided good excuse to the rivals ‎of the administration to expose and discredit it – a prudent decision?” The newspaper ‎continued, “Mr. Pourmohammadi had overseen three strong and exhausting elections, ‎and so was it prudent to remove him a day before the run off elections and publish the ‎news in the media? Was this not a hasty decision?” On Saturday too Resalat published ‎the remarks of Morteza Nabavi – the high ranking member of the Principalist faction - as ‎its main story in which he criticized the recent differences between Ahmadinejad and ‎Adel, “We have witnessed during the last few days the disclosure of differences between ‎senior government officials and have seen them reflected in the media which has ‎delighted the rivals and has been used by the enemies of the regime, while also raising ‎concerns for the public and state authorities. These differences have forced the leader of ‎the Islamic regime to issue his warning, calling on them to refrain from such exposes and ‎conflict that disrupts national unity and accord.”‎

Morteza Nabavi who is both the managing editor of Resalat and also a member of the ‎State Expediency Council told weekly Jam magazine, which is the party paper for the ‎Islamic Society of Engineers of Iran that these differences were the work of the enemies ‎of the regime and asked what was the rationale for the differences among the senior state ‎officials. “What results other than making the enemy happy and the public concerned do ‎such differences serve”, he asked.‎

Hezbollah newspaper too had its leading story on Saturday reserved for this issue. It ‎criticized the accusations made by President Ahmadinejad against his opponents and the ‎‎“gangs” that were disrupting the economy of the country during his 2 recent trips to the ‎provinces, and wrote, “Repeated accusations by the head of the government against ‎others when the issues had not been investigated only disrupt public peace which is ‎aimed at creating pressure to deal with the specific issues.” The paper warned that the ‎continuation of such accusations would only lead to an atmosphere of exposes and ‎conflict while the accusations would remain in the public mind and create problems for ‎national security.‎

Another major national newspaper Jomhurie Eslami (Islamic Republic) too which had in ‎the past as well strongly criticized the President for his behavior, on Saturday referenced ‎dismissed minister Danesh Jaafari’s exposing remarks and asked, “Why must the ‎government undertake policies in the different economic sectors such as banks, ‎insurance, housing, the Management and Planning Organization, exports, gasoline ‎rationing, changes to banking hours, etc in a manner that would require it to soon either ‎alter those policies or face complicated implementation issues? Why must the President ‎make accusations against government centers, organization and individuals such as those ‎regarding 5 Billion Dollar bribe of a cigarette importer, or the provision of 1,500 Billion ‎Toman as credit to a housing mafia, etc without then having the ability to prove them?”‎