While approximately six months remain until the tenth presidential election in Iran and ‎the supreme leader of the country has explicitly supported incumbent Mahmoud ‎Ahmadinejad many times in the past few months, a conservative website revealed that ‎several grand ayatollahs in Qom, and some clerics from Tehran, have sent messages to ‎supreme leader ayatollah Khamenei voicing their disappointment with the Ahmadinejad ‎administration. ‎

The website Tabnak, which belongs to former Passdaran Revolutionary Guards ‎commander and current deputy head of the powerful Expediency Council (led by ‎Hashemi Rafsanjani) Mohsen Rezaei, reported yesterday under the headline “Messages ‎and Disappointment of Clerics with Some Administration Measures” that “several top ‎clerics from Tehran and Qom have made remarks to the Islamic Republic supreme leader ‎voicing their criticism of some of the ninth administration’s measures.” ‎

Tabnak’s report does not specifically mention any names, but it is accompanied by the ‎pictures of three conservative grand ayatollahs residing in Qom: Makarem Shirazi, Nouri ‎Hamedani and Safi Golpaigani. These three ayatollahs are the closest grand ayatollahs to ‎the administration; which indicates much about the positions of critical grand ayatollahs ‎such as Montazeri, Sanei, Mousavi Ardebili, Bayat and Shiraziyoon as well as apolitical ‎grand ayatollahs such as Vahid Khorasani, Behjat and Shabiri Zanjani. ‎

Supreme Leader Responsible for Administration’s Performance ‎
Tabnak added in its report – which is unprecedented in its revelation of internal strife in ‎the Islamic Republic – that “Following the protest of several grand ayatollahs from the ‎Qom Theological School (Hoze Elmie Qom) to some administration measures, one of the ‎prominent ayatollahs in Tehran reminded the regime’s top officials: The fear is that the ‎inappropriate behavior of some members of administration be blamed on the regime and ‎top officials.” ‎

Tabnak did not refer directly in its piece to the supreme leader, but instead used the term ‎‎“top officials,” which is synonymous with the Islamic Republic supreme leader based on ‎present conventions of Iranian journalism. This is because Iranian media are not allowed ‎to reference the supreme leader directly without permission from the supreme leader’s ‎office. ‎

In recent weeks there has been increasing episodes of conservative clerics protesting the ‎administration’s performance. ‎

In the most recent episode, two days ago ayatollah Makarem Shirazi blasted the ‎Ahmadinejad administration’s management style. At a gathering held to commemorate ‎the ninth Shia Imam, Ayatollah Makarem Shiraz quoted the ninth Imam: “Those who ‎take responsibility over a matter without information and awareness will do more harm ‎than good.”‎