Iran's most watched man has finally made his move. Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former president and the country's most skilled political operator, had been sending mixed signals since the contentious June election, one day appearing sympathetic with the opposition and the next declaring his loyalty to the regime. Throughout this long political dance, both Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the opposition "green movement" appreciated that securing the allegiance of Rafsanjani, a key player in Iranian politics since the Islamic Revolution, would represent a significant victory.
COMMENTS (8)
More...
Now, Rafsanjani appears to have decided to place his bets with Khamenei. And it turns out that Rafsanjani's cultivated reputation for independence might be exactly what the supreme leader needs right now.
Since the June 12 presidential election, the only constant during Rafsanjani's long period of fence-sitting was his display of contempt for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his cadre of hard-liners. The rift between the two men goes back many years. Rafsanjani lost to Ahmadinejad in the 2005 presidential race, a contest Rafsanjani implied was rigged by the hard-liners. The tension only intensified during the 2009 presidential election, when Ahmadinejad, in a nationally televised debate, accused his rival Mir Hossein Mousavi of receiving support from corrupt officials, such as Rafsanjani. Rafsanjani then sent an unprecedented letter to Khamenei, complaining about Ahmadinejad's "lies." He called on Khamenei to extinguish the "fire" sparked by Ahmadinejad.
Recently, Rafsanjani had even refused to be seen in public with Ahmadinejad, and he was conspicuously absent from the president's inauguration ceremony.
The green movement had hoped that Rafsanjani's well-known recent rivalry with Khamenei, as well as his distaste for Ahmadinejad, would secure his influential support. Their hopes were raised particularly on July 17, when Rafsanjani delivered a Friday prayer sermon in Tehran. The Friday sermons are used to discuss burning political issues, and Rafsanjani took the occasion to criticize the regime's heavy-handed crackdown against the opposition. He called for releasing political prisoners, freeing the media, and preserving the rule of law. "Don't let our enemies laugh at us by putting people in prison," Rafsanjani told worshippers. "We must search for unity to find a way out of our quandary."
Rafsanjani also said that Iran should be ruled as a "republic," a deliberate criticism of the dictatorship evolving since the June demonstrations. After this speech, the regime punished Rafsanjani by banning him as a Friday prayer leader, ending his long-held influence in the post.
But over the winter, the field began to shift in the opposite direction. Rafsanjani might have been concerned about the risk of political irrelevancy if he continued to stay distant from the regime. And with the opposition still weak, joining it would have severely curtailed his ability to stay in the political mix. The first sign of rapprochement between Rafsanjani and Khamenei came on Feb. 25, when the supreme leader paid a visit to the Assembly of Experts, an influential political body chaired by Rafsanjani. Khamenei, in a clear reference to Rafsanjani, took the opportunity to declare that Iranian leaders needed to decide if they were with the state or the "enemy" -- that is, with the opposition. Photos published in state-run newspapers showed the two men sitting nearly cheek to cheek.
SUBJECTS:
(8)
HIDE COMMENTS LOGIN OR REGISTER REPORT ABUSE