Parisa Hatami ‎

The joint sessions of members of the ninth administration and eighth Majlis, which was ‎held on Sunday night at the presidential palace in Tehran, was the scene of harsh back ‎and forth bickering between the Majlis speaker and the president; an event that is ‎unprecedented in the new Majlis era. ‎

At the meeting, Larijani accused the Ahmadinejad administration of breaking the law on ‎numerous occasions, and Ahmadinejad invited Larijani in an obviously sarcastic ‎comment to make another run for the presidency if he feels the present administration ‎really had that many flaws. It must be noted that Larijani was one of Ahmadinejad’s ‎opponents in the 2005 presidential race. ‎

Larijani then asked cabinet ministers to take more professional and powerful ‎responsibility regarding criticism from the Majlis. Noting the administration’s violation ‎of the budget bill, Larijani said, “Finding out that the budget law passed by the Majlis has ‎not been properly implemented [by the administration] after a long time, is not a good ‎development. The Majlis expects the administration to be the symbol of respecting and ‎abiding by law.” ‎

This part of Larijani’s remarks aroused the harsh reaction of the president , who claimed, ‎‎“The ninth administration is the most law abiding administration since the Islamic ‎revolution’s victory and has had the most commitment to legislation and bills passed by ‎the Majlis.” However, Ahmadinejad did not provide any direct or clear answers to ‎charges raised by Larijani and other lawmakers regarding the administration’s violation ‎of the budget law and preferred not to take part in that discussion. ‎

In his remarks, criticizing the administration’s performance in importing petroleum and ‎calling it illegal, Larijani noted, “This is not the solution. According to the ministry of ‎oil’s report, about four billion [dollars] have been allocated for petroleum imports. The ‎administration should have brought a bill to the Majlis to change the requested amount.” ‎

Also commenting on inflation and the public’s anxiety, Larijani said, “Sometimes it is ‎said that none of the previous administrations completed any development projects, but ‎despite the many ups and downs faced by previous administrations, some of them ‎actually had sound industrial projects and plans to control inflation but policies changed ‎and these caused certain problems.” ‎

This clear criticism from Larijani and his emphasis that the ninth administration’s radical ‎departure from policies of previous administrations accounts for current problems was ‎met with Ahmadinejad’s harsh response: “None of the previous administrations achieved ‎the goals of the development plan. The ninth administration, according to credible data ‎and figures, has had the most success in realizing the goals and has been much more ‎successful in comparison with previous administrations. Despite these achievements, ‎however, some people outside the administration and Majlis propagate negative ‎propaganda against the administration.”‎

The president added, “We believe that attacking the administration’s actions and ‎questioning principles is being ungrateful.” ‎