Mahboubeh Niknahad

Although the report covering the meeting of the regime's Supreme Leader with ninth ‎administration officials pointed to Ayatollah Khemeni's strong support for the administration, the ‎full text of the Supreme Leader's remarks at the meeting indicate that his support for the ‎Ahmadinejad Administration was even more pronounced than initially reported. Nonetheless, ‎several important parts of the Supreme Leader's speech, which have very significant political ‎implications, have been removed from the version prepared by the Supreme Leader's office and ‎forwarded to news agencies for publication. ‎

Among the most important censored parts of the Supreme Leader's speech is a portion of his ‎remarks where, addressing the administration's officials, he asserts, "In this final year, work with ‎the energy of the first year. Do not think that this year is the administration's final year; no. ‎Work like a person who is planning to work for another five years; meaning imagine that this ‎one year, plus another four years is for your management. Look at things from this point of view ‎and work and plan and implement." ‎

Emergency Meeting and Unprecedented Support

On Saturday, Ahmadinejad Administration officials were forced to change their travel plans to ‎visit the province of Markazi and keep the spectators handing at the Mordad 5 Martyrs stadium ‎in Arak in order to meet with the Supreme Leader on the first day of the Government Week. ‎

The delay was absolutely in the administration's favor, because administration officials faced ‎unprecedented support in their meeting with the Supreme Leader. The Islamic Republic's ‎Supreme Leader opened his remarks by explaining in full length the "points and positive aspects ‎of this administration" and concluded his opening remarks with noting that his support for this ‎administration is "warmer" than his support for previous administrations and that he "acts more ‎warmly in this support and praise." However, this part of his speech, which was, in effect, the ‎conclusion to all previous remarks, were removed from the text send by the Supreme Leader's ‎office to news agencies for publication, and were not published by any newspapers on Sunday. ‎

Iranian publications and news agencies are required to publish only those parts of Supreme ‎Leader's speeches that are officially provided by his office and have (limited) freedom only in ‎choosing the title of their report. This limitation, though baseless in legal terms, is fully ‎complied with by the media, because even summarizing portions of the Supreme Leader's speech ‎leads to severe confrontation. ‎

As a result, the Supreme Leader's office can highlight or undermine certain portions while ‎devising a report. Nonetheless, the Supreme Leader's office rarely removes an important portion ‎of the Supreme Leader's remarks. However, that took place in this instance and is easily ‎discernible from comparing the initial full text of Supreme Leader's remarks, which were ‎published on Sunday, with subsequent versions. ‎

Supporting Administration against Majlis

In addition to his "warm" support for the ninth administration, which was removed from the final ‎report, another portion of Ayatollah Khamenei's speech dealing with the necessity for the ‎administration's "patience" in its dealing with the Majlis and judiciary were censored. Ayatollah ‎Khamenei had said, "Cooperating with the other two branches is another one of the advices. It is ‎necessary to cooperate with the Majlis and the judiciary; this must not be overlooked at all; ‎although it is possible to experience obstacles and bitterness on this route; but you must be ‎patient; that is better." ‎

Additionally, the part of Ayatollah Khamenei's speech in which he called on administration ‎officials to work as if five years are left from their term was censored in the subsequent version. ‎In that part of his speech, Ayatollah Khamenei openly supports Ahmadinejad's election for ‎another term in office as president - a topic that does not seem to be pleasant for some ‎conservatives. ‎