Aside from Mohammad-Taghi Mesbah Yazdi and ayatollah Nouri Hamedani, two clerics supporting Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, prominent clerics at the Qom seminary condemned insults that were thrown at ayatollah Khomeini’s grandson, Hassan Khomeini last week, when a Ahmadinejad’s unplanned long speech prevented Khomieni from speaking at the rally. Meanwhile, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, chairman of the Expediency Council, said during the Council’s meeting yesterday – from which Ahmadinejad was absent – that ayatollah Khamenei too has condemned the anniversary events and described private discussions between himself and ayatollah Khamenei on that day.

According to the Expediency Council’s news portal, during yesterday’s meeting, Rafsanjani described what transpired behind the scenes on June 4th: “On that day, I was sitting with the supreme leader in the waiting area, and saw that he was upset. When Hassan called for a Salawat [a praise for prophet Mohammad], a large portion of the crowd responded, drowning some slogans that a few others were chanting. This made the supreme leader happy, who turned to me and said, ‘See, that’s the [voice of] the people, not the voice coming from a small group. People are loyal.’”

Also claiming that seyed Hassan Khomeini was “persuaded” by ayatollah Khamenei to give a speech, Rafsanjani said, “Before the speech, Hassan Agha was indignant. He didn’t want to talk. But, again in front of me, the supreme leader told him that it was not proper if he did not speak. ‘People expect to hear from you,’ Khamenei told Hassan and persuaded him to go. What [the supreme leader] did in front of the podium was very meaningful. The annual death ceremony of ayatollah Khomeini is celebrated every year, but the supreme leader had never kissed Hassan Agha in public. Those who saw it that day should have learned andunderstood, that it was a signal. That was how the Supreme Leader announced his position, through the signal.”

Independently of Hashemi Rafsanjani’s behind the scenes account of the Khordad 14 events, prominent clerics residing in Qom have strongly condemned the Khordad 14 events.  

Immediately after the June 4th ceremonies, two grand ayatollahs, Mousavi Ardebili and  Yousef Sanei blasted Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s supporters for insulting the Imam’s grandson. Throughout the past three days, other clerics and grand ayatollahs also condemned the acts.

Parleman News, the website belonging to the minority reformist faction in the Majlis, which has been filtered by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s ministry of culture, reported that prominent clerics including Safi Golpaigani, Vahid Khorasani and Makarem Shirazi had strongly condemned the June 4 events.

According to the report, ayatollah Safi Golpaigani pointed his criticism at the “regime’s senior leadership” and called for an investigation into insults targeted at seyed Hassan Khomeini.

It must be noted that ayatollah Khamenei has not yet personally condemned the event; even though Rafsanjani implicitly revealed the supreme leader’s dissatisfaction of what had taken place.