Some principalist (ideological former supporters of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) media have acknowledged that that they have “shut the mouths of Ahmadinejad’s committed religious supporters,” and that had they not do this, “he could have continued to strengthen his authority by the day.” It is in this light that news reports in Iran now herald the wrapping-up of the legal dossier against Mohammad-Reza Rahimi, the first vice-president.

Choice Between Ahmadinejad and Mesbah

After principlists launched harsh responses to the attacks of Ahmadinejad’s supporters on ultra-conservative ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, it is now the turn of websites supporting Esfandiar Rahim Mashai to embark on their round of attacks. A story in Haft Sobh website – whose article on Mesbah was one of the causes of the verbal exchanges between the two camps – quoted a political activist in its latest issue and wrote, “We will not exchange even a single rotten hair of Dr. Ahmadinejad for a hundred belonging to the totalitarians who seem fed up with Dr. Ahmadinejad’s hardline measures in his fight with imposers, and who now intend to weaken the public base of the administration on the pretext of supporting some individuals such as a cleric and a cabinet minister.”

This article in turn was a response to a story by Raj news which wrote, “You have no rights to break the boundaries and positions. You should know that if we are forced to choose between ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi and Ahmadinejad, we will certainly chose ayatollah Mesbah.”

Prior to this, Haft Sobh had published a piece addressing ayatollah Mesbah in which it wrote, “Your support of Ahmadinejad has resulted in a drop in the number of his supporters. If conditions are put in place for his presidential candidacy in 2013 you can be sure that he will still get 34 million votes even without your support.”

Previously, ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi had called Mashai’s supporters and those who claim to have contacts with the Shiite missing twelfth imam “trash” who “had no power to do anything.” This website is closely affiliated with Mashai, even though its officers deny this.

Another writer for the site recently published a story in which he implicitly criticized the supreme leader of the Islamic republic and commenting on the corruption in the country wrote, “Theft, usurps, prostitution, corruption, etc did not come about overnight. Some documents clarify that some of these have existed for two or three years. Where have the agencies responsible for justice, Islamic ideology, defense of the Islamic republic and protection of velayat faghih (rule of clerics) been during these recent years? If they had remained unaware and their information is limited to what they know, then they must really shut themselves out. But if they were aware, and did not say anything because of discretion, they must go to court, as their own religious leaders have said. I know that one cannot take a complaint against god to the prophet, but it is really shameless for some to be making these claims about fighting corruption.”

 

Amid these verbal battles, a principlist cleric made hopeful remarks that, “Mr. Ahmadinejad would remain outside this deviant movement, even though his boycott is questionable and has hurt many pious people. There is absolutely no doubt that there is a deviant movement trying to destroy the huge accomplishments of the administration.”

A recent story that appeared in a principlist website wrote this in a reference to the way Ahmadinejad’s critics have been treated: “If we had presented our ideological comrade Ahmadinejad with his errors right from the beginning, if we did not overlook his shortcomings, if we had continued to counsel what is good and what is bad, if we had not shut the voices of Ahmadinejad’s pious critics, then he would have continued to gain strength by the day.”

Commenting on Ahmadinejad’s continued attachment to Mashai, an official from the Qom Theological Seminary recently said, “Mr. Ahmadinejad has paid an un-necessarily high price regarding some of his associates while losing some of his good friends. He has put too much faith and trust in the decisions of the former and believed that they had contacts with the other world and that they were truly knowledgeable in Islamic matters, thus justifying their erroneous statements while ignoring the counsel of true great men.”

Awaiting the Trial of the First Vice-President

Attacks on Ahmadinejad’s associates and those that have been identified to belong to the “deviant movement” continue as Ahmad Tavakoli, the head of Majlis’ investigative arm announced that Mohammad-Reza Rahimi’s legal complaint had been launched and that “the judiciary was seriously completing the file.”

Prior to this and in response to Ahmadinejad, Tavakoli had announced that three judges that reviewed the indictment against Rahim and had definitively concluded that he had was certainly a criminal, while Ahmadinejad had banned any confrontation with Rahimi.

Conservative member of parliament Elias Naderan also made headlines when he criticized Rahimi’s use of the title Dr. for himself while summoning the Minister of Education in this regard.  “How can Mr. Rahimi use the forged title of Dr to communicate with a university to request a degree? You as minister should have told him that he was not allowed to do this and should have told the President to stop him. How can we be sure that this was not going to happen again and that a person who himself was the head of the government administrative court that was supposed to be the watchdog for corruption and violations would himself engage in such activities?”

As these verbal exchanges continue, the banning of 9 Dey weekly only added more attacks onto to Mashai and his allies. Hamid Rasai, the chief manager of the weekly wrote, “The defunct movement that lost favor among the principlist camp after the 2009 sedition and the deviant movement that lost its social position after the Ministry of Intelligence affair viewed the 9 Dey weekly a nuisance for itself, and so reached an agreement on shutting it. It is interesting that the board that oversees the media is under the influence of these two movements.”

In a related news development, a group of Majlis deputies have asked Ahmadinejad to respond to their questions about Mashai’s foreign trips. “Have Mr. Mashai’s meetings with foreign officials outside Iran taken place with the official participation of representatives from the Foreign Ministry? If not, how did the ministry ensure that events were in line with the interests and approved policies of the country?” they asked.