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In a remarkable and unprecedented event, Ali Agha Mohammadi, a member of Iran’s ‎powerful State Expediency Council (constitutionally entrusted with diffusing differences ‎between the government and the legislature) and former deputy to Ali Larijani at the state ‎radio and television network, Ali Agha Mohammadi compared the policies of President ‎Ahmadinejad to Iran’s first president Abolhassan Bani-Sadr, who was ousted from power ‎in 1981 and called on the public to be “aware” so that that “that bitter episode was not ‎repeated.”‎

Ironically, but meaningfully, Agha Mohammadi’s comments on the national airwaves ‎appeared just a few hours after Ali Larijani was elected as the new Speaker of the Majlis. ‎Both men are recognized to be unfavorable to some of the key policies of the current ‎administration and the President. Agha Mohammadi was at one time Larijani’s deputy at ‎the television network and the conservatists known as Principalists (Osoolgarayan) view ‎him as well to be among the key members of the conservative group that is known as the ‎United Front, a coalition that has even publicly aired opposition to some policies and ‎measures of the current President. Mohammadi’s eye-opening comparison came during a ‎television show called “Classified” in which he appeared critical of the President, ‎something that observers have interpreted to be the express warning to the President by ‎Larijani’s allies.‎

Using the current public debates about whether Bani-Sadr was a traitor or not, ‎Mohammadi narrated some of his personal memories of his encounters with the first ‎President and at that point mentioned some of the similar slogans and rhetoric that Bani-‎Sadr and Ahmadinejad both used. “He (Bani-Sadr) repeatedly resorted to Islam, talked of ‎support for the deprived, and mentioned the battle against the arrogant, while also calling ‎banks usurpers, and demanding a reduction in the banking interest rate to 4 percent, all ‎aimed at attracting public support, which made some people believe that this man had ‎come from the heavens to liberate mankind. And he attributed all the negative qualities ‎that he himself had to his enemies,” Mohammadi illustrated.‎

What is significant about Mohammadi’s reference to Bani-Sadr’s calls to reduce the ‎inter-bank interest rate to 4 percent is that just last month the headlines in the Iranian ‎media for days on were about President Ahmadinejad’s calls for reducing the inter-bank ‎rate. Similarly, the other points that Mohammadi raised about Bani-Sadr, namely his ‎championship of the deprived people, the accusations against the banking system, his ‎own self image as a savior, etc are also issues that have been raised about the current ‎head of the executive, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as well. ‎

It should be noted that Ali Agha Mohammadi, who has been close to the Leader of the ‎Islamic regime ayatollah Khamenei from the days when the latter was exiled to Kerman ‎in the days prior to the 1979 revolution, did not stop his comments at just comparing and ‎criticizing Ahmadinejad, but even issues a warning, saying that people had to be careful ‎so that “Bani-Sadr’s episode” was not repeated. “People should again now listen to the ‎speeches that Bani-Sadr made to prevent the episode from repeating itself,” he said, ‎adding, “.. because it is possible for some people to come forward and conceal their true ‎self and intentions.”‎

These words can be easily viewed as the strongest warnings and criticism till today ‎against President Ahmadinejad, particularly as they come from someone who is very ‎close to the new leadership in the Majlis, who in turn has made it very clear that he (the ‎new Speaker of the Majlis) intends to play a greater supervisory role over the ‎government.‎