latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/middleeast/la-fg-khamenei-endorses-ahmadi
nejad-20110530,0,970944.story
latimes.com
Iran's supreme leader endorses Ahmadinejad, trying to calm political turmoil
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei tries to avert a crisis between Iran's
conservative clergy and the firebrand president. The pronouncement also is
seen as a warning to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad not to overstep
boundaries.
By Ramin Mostaghim and Ned Parker, Los Angeles Times
8:18 AM PDT, May 29, 2011
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, endorsed President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad Sunday as Khamenei looked to resolve a months-long rift among
the country's conservative power elite.
"While there are weaknesses and problems ... the composition of the
executive branch is good and appropriate, and the government is working. The
government and parliament must help each other," Ayatollah Khamenei said in
an address to parliament members, later shown on state television.
The pronouncement by the country's most powerful figure has followed a
period of turbulence between him and his onetime political favorite.
At its heart is a possible future struggle for power between the firebrand
president and Khamenei's conservative clergy, who are wary of Ahmadinejad's
messianic strain of Islam and his incendiary populism. They worry his
tendency for explosive talk could threaten their long-term interests, if not
render them obsolete.
The broadcast of portions of Khamenei's speech seemed designed to settle the
crisis, but it also laid down a strict warning for Iran's president about
not overstepping his boundaries. "When the law is passed, the government
must implement it with full power and without any excuse," Khamenei, said
Khamenei warned that Iran's political camps, with memories still fresh of
the popular uprising after the June 2009 election, dare not play dirty games
with the parliament elections, scheduled for next spring.
"Nobody is allowed to interfere in the election," he said.
Political observers believe that Ahmadinejad is charting his way forward
even as Khamenei's allies have tried to cut him down to size. "As a lame
duck in power, he cannot get more room to maneuver," said political
scientist Ahmad Bakhshayesh. He predicted hard times ahead for the
president: "He is no longer the supreme leader's blue-eyed boy."
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