‎

Mehrzad Farhoodi

As the debate and contemplations about next year’s presidential elections (the country’s ‎tenth) in Iran pick momentum, Rooz raised some of the issues with ayatollah Montazeri ‎who provided his views in response. ‎

When asked about his views on the possibility of Mr. Abdollah Nouri running for the ‎presidency, ayatollah Montazeri said, “I have no views on the elections yet.” [Cleric ‎Abdollah Nouri was a member of former president Khatami’s cabinet and was arrested, ‎charged and imprisoned by the judiciary for activities that were deemed to be inconsistent ‎with the mainstream views on politics and religion.]‎

Regarding the various invitations that have been extended to former president Khatami to ‎become a presidential candidate, Mr. Montazeri said, “I sent a message when he first ‎became president in 1997 that the way things were going he would not be able to ‎continue working. If the cabinet ministers, governors etc of the chief executive are not in ‎line with him, he cannot successfully take a single step. I told him that if I were in his ‎place I would go to the leader and tell him: ‘Your position and respect is acknowledged, ‎but I have received 22 million votes from people who knew that the leader had a different ‎person in mind for the office.’ The message that the 22 million people who voted for him ‎implicitly sent is that they did not approve of the person that the leader had desired as ‎president. Mr. Khatami should have told the leader that the 22 million individuals who ‎voted for him had expectations of him, and that he could not do his job if the leader ‎interfered in his choice of cabinet ministers, governors, etc and imposed his choices for ‎senior positions. He should have told the leader that if he continued his interference, he ‎would then resign from his position and thank the public for their support.”‎

Regarding the security apparatus of the country, this senior cleric who had once been the ‎deputy supreme leader of Iran said, “The structure of the ministry of intelligence is bad. ‎While there are good, honest and sincere people working in the field of intelligence. ‎When Mr. Khatami became president, I sent a message to his intelligence minister that ‎the ministry’s organization structure was bad. If the deputies were to remain while a new ‎minister had been appointed who would be expected to sign off everything the deputies ‎brought to him, the organizational structure of the agency would not change and would ‎remain bad. I told him that what people expect of him was to change the structure of the ‎agency and that the intelligence the body obtained should be in harmony with the public, ‎and not against them through the wrong individuals who were bent on creating criminal ‎dossiers for the public. I have information that the ministry has some corrupt individuals. ‎Of course there are also some good people at the agency too.”‎

On the duties of the supreme leader of Iran and his involvement in the various issues ‎pertaining to the state this senior cleric said, “Mr. Khatami should have been a bit more ‎forceful. The leader too should have remained within the confines of his authority. The ‎meaning of leader is that he should monitor events so ensure that no activities that are ‎contrary to religious principles take place. If he does notice that the president or a cabinet ‎minister have engaged in activities that are not in line with religious tenets, then he ‎should intervene and stop this. But he should create his own structure and a royal guard ‎which is larger than those of monarchs around the world, and make himself unreachable. ‎The leader and those around him should not interfere in the workings of the ‎administrative ministries or of the provincial governors, or in all other places. It is wrong ‎for him to do that. The country cannot be run in this fashion because there will be ‎multiple authorities and governments each of which will be doing their own thing. A ‎totalitarian administration in which two or three specific individuals determine state ‎affairs and the public is a nobody will fail in today’s world.”‎

‎“Unfortunately the reform period (led by president Khatami’s administration) was not ‎used well. It was possible to make better use of that atmosphere. In any case, real reforms ‎are more than just slogans and rhetoric for which the public rose up and created the ‎‎[1979] revolution, but which have been forgotten because of the passage of time or ‎disinformation, or carelessness. These must be revived and implemented by the state and ‎the ruling system must be reformed. Under these circumstances, the responsibility of ‎people, thinkers and well-wishers who are popular is to provide reasonable and ‎constructive criticism, including useful ideas and projects to reform the structure of the ‎state. My notices and criticism, in the past and now, have been based on this,” ayatollah ‎Montazeri added.‎

According to this senior cleric, “What may be the obstacle to reforming a legitimate and ‎popular regime are material, political or dogmatic issues. Those who claim to be ‎reformists too must, foremost, possess thoughts and engage in activities that are ‎consistent with Islam and the ideals of the revolution. Otherwise these will not be a ‎constructive source for reforms and change.”‎