Ahmadinejad Resignation Coming? Speculation Over Internal Rift Intensifies

A growing rift between Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has bubbled to the surface recently, fueling speculation that the president will resign.

The schism began months ago, but came to a head in recent weeks when Ahmadinejad dismissed Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi. Khamenei, who has final authority on all political decisions, immediately re-instated the minister in a move widely perceived as a rebuke to the president.

In retaliation, Ahmadinejad skipped two Cabinet meetings, but by Sunday, May 1, he signaled he was stepping down from the fight. According to the AP, he ended "his apparent boycott of Cabinet meetings and accusing the U.S. and Israel of exaggerating internal rifts."

However, the bitter power struggle continues. On Thursday, the battle took a strange turn as allies of Ahmadinejad found themselves slapped with charges of sorcery. As the Guardian reports, several people, including the president's chief of staff, were charged with being "magicians." Abbas Ghaffari, one of the men arrested, was described as "a man with special skills in metaphysics and connections with the unknown worlds" by an Iranian news website.

Friday, the tension seemed to come to come to a breaking point, with reports that Ahmadinejad had received a deadline to either accept the reinstatement of the intelligence minister or submit his resignation. The Guardian reports:

Meanwhile, the president was reportedly absent from religious ceremonies this week at Khamenei's house, where he was publicly criticised by close allies of the ayatollah. Iranian officials are traditionally required to participate in such ceremonies in order to cover up any political rift that might compromise Khamenei's power.

While it remains to be seen which option the controversial leader will choose, the public nature of the disagreement is a rare occurrence in Iranian politics, in which political infighting is carefully concealed from the public.

Comments

[Ergon]

04:45 PM on 05/12/2011

Very unlikely he'll resign. This is a constitutional rift which'll resolve itself. And all these "rumours" are simply plants by not disinterested parties.

[Alicia Westberry]

03:13 PM on 05/12/2011

Agreed, farleft1917.

[MarsAmbassador]

08:45 PM on 05/11/2011

This rift is getting crazy. The clerics just arrested a bunch of Ahmadinejad insiders for sorcery and invoking spirits (djinn) in efforts to attack the clergy. It's only a matter of time before this battle ends up in the streets. Long live secular power!

[joeyfoto]

05:51 PM on 05/11/2011

"However, the bitter power struggle continues. On Thursday, the battle took a strange turn as allies of Ahmadinejad found themselves slapped with charges of sorcery. As the Guardian reports, several people, including the president's chief of staff, were charged with being "magicians." Abbas Ghaffari, one of the men arrested, was described as "a man with special skills in metaphysics and connections with the unknown worlds" by an Iranian news website."

Death-eaters are taking control in Iran.
Where's Dumbledore now that the Islamic world need him?

The Great Leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran have lost their fricken minds.

[Richard Duffy]

06:35 AM on 05/10/2011

Can't you find a picture of this mutt where he doesn't look like Ringo?

[Dale Andersen]

04:10 AM on 05/10/2011

We'll miss Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He was always good for a juicy sound bite on a slow news day. But hey, why not admit him to the good old US of A as a refugee? Let the Republicans forge him a birth certificate and run him for President. He'd be perfect for the GOP ticket. He's a hard core law-and-order man and he has a proven track record as an election cheat...

http://playwrighter.blogspot.com/2011/04/mahmoud-ahmadinejads-obituary.html

[andersmh123]

10:03 AM on 05/10/2011

and ur an idiot

[Fill F Fill]

05:39 PM on 05/09/2011

Send the magicians here to the US! We love a good magic act.

[wolfmason]

03:20 PM on 05/09/2011

"Abbas Ghaffari...was described as 'a man with special skills in metaphysics and connections with the unknown worlds' by an Iranian news website."

Are we sure this "Iranian news website" isn't an H.P. Lovecraft fanfiction page?

[Katchalater]

01:53 PM on 05/09/2011

Maybe Sinbad can save them from the Wicked Vizer?

[farleft1917]

12:43 PM on 05/09/2011

So some will smirk but this actually means that Iran is shifting to a more hardline position.

The fact is we know nothing, the CIA knows nothing and our administration knows nothing about Iran. The fact they are accusing his men of being magicians does not bode well for Americans awaiting trial.

I predict we we will cheer Ahmadinejad's fall from power only to be dismayed at who replaces him.

Ahmadinejad is not the problem, nor any mullah, but our ignorance most certainly is a major obstacle.

[TeeSC]

01:01 PM on 05/09/2011

Agreed.  This certainly is NOT a move towards reform.

[Magic 62]

07:25 PM on 05/09/2011

What's wrong with an early election? Front runner is Ghalibaf. Khatami and Rafsanjani can run again.

[messy]

05:26 PM on 05/09/2011

"Ahmadineja­d is not the problem,"

True that. But he is A Problem. Khomanei. is a worse problem. The Mullahs are together a major problem and that's why Iran's in the position it's in.

[airmikee99]

05:38 PM on 05/09/2011

The CIA is also an Iranian problem, at least it was back in 1953 when it helped overthrow a democratically elected government and put a puppet government in place that brutalized the Iranian people for decades, pissing the people off to the point they overthrew that dictator and put in place the current system we're observing now.

[Avirahim]

06:39 PM on 05/09/2011

@airmikee99

True that, and, again in 1970's when they helped install Ayatollah Khomeini. After Khomeini became a bad puppet, they armed Saddam with WMD to massacre 1,000,000 Iranians.

"The Ayatollah’s compound was reportedly surrounded by representatives of
covert agencies from the major powers: the CIA, Britain’s MI-6, Russia’s KGB, and the French intelligence organization, SDECE. One has to wonder why an unknown,
uncultured, old cleric was the focus of such attention.

Intelligence officers from Israel, France and the U.S. stated that the U.S.
government wrote checks to Khomeini while he was in Paris in increments of
approximately $150 million. They were delivered through the CIA."

http://www.carterbooktv.com/PDF/French_Connection.pdf

"The Washington Post reported that in 1984 the CIA secretly started providing intelligen­ce to the Iraqi army during the Iran-Iraq War. The same year it was confirmed beyond doubt by European doctors and UN expert missions that Iraq was employing chemical weapons against the Iranians.[­40] Most of these occurred during the Iran–Iraq War, but WMDs were used at least once to crush the popular uprisings against Kurds in 1991.[cita­tion needed] Chemical weapons were used extensivel­y, with more than 100,000 Iranian soldiers as victims of Saddam Hussein's chemical weapons during the eight-year war with Iraq,[41] Iran today is the world's second-mos­t afflicted country by weapons of mass destructio­n, only after Japan."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_and_weapons_of_mass_destruction#Chemical_weapon_attacks

[KarateKid]

11:46 AM on 05/09/2011

This is yet another manifestation of our failed foreign policy of the past 60 years. We backed the Pahlavi family, who for years ruled Iran like a monarchy, then his son Reza Pahlavi, known as the Shah, then oppressed his people so badly that Iran overthrew him with a theocracy very hostile to the US.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad_Reza_Pahlavi

It's a shame, because the Iranian people are not aggressive; they have not attacked another country for over 250 years but have defended themselves ably when attacked.

It was the US backed, and armed, Saddam Hussein who started that _war with Iran. Then, look what happened.

I wonder when we'll grow up as a nation and stop doing these foolish things.

[messy]

05:29 PM on 05/09/2011

"We backed the Pahlavi family, who for years ruled Iran like a monarchy,"

No we didn't. We didn't give a shit who ruled Iran until the 2nd world war. BTW they ruled Iran AS a monarchy, not LIKE a monarchy. Plus Iran started a war with Russia and a war with Turkey in the early 19th century....however they were too busy fighting amoungst themselves most of the time.

[KarateKid]

06:59 PM on 05/09/2011

Yes, we did. The Shah was our _stooge. Look it up. I'm speaking of Reza Pahlavi, not his father.

[Magic 62]

07:18 PM on 05/09/2011

We cared a whole lot about who ruled Iran by 1953, and no, Iran didn't pick any fights with Turkey and Russia in the early 19th century. Iran was too weak to pick on anyone. In-fighting that resulted in the Constitutional revolution didn't start until early 20th century.

[alpi57]

07:50 PM on 05/09/2011

You are a bit off on your history. But we backed the Pahlavi regime because as usual it was easier to deal with a Monarch than a democracy where oil is concerned. Then, we got rid of him because he wouldn't play ball and didn't want to renew the consortium contract in 1974. The west could not allow that to happen because the rest of OPEC would have followed suit. So they had to make an example of him.

But it all went south when they got betrayed by Khomeini who was supported by the CIA and the French Secret Service.

[NotStarvingArtist]

11:37 AM on 05/09/2011

Silly headline for link to this story. "Curtains" means death, not resignation.

[HeliosOne]

11:23 AM on 05/09/2011

"his apparent boycott of Cabinet meetings and accusing the U.S. and Israel of exaggerating internal rifts."

I just love how every bad thing that happens in that theocratic backwater is the US and Israel's fault. One wonders what cuss words this guy yells about America when he stubs his toe.

"On Thursday, the battle took a strange turn as allies of Ahmadinejad found themselves slapped with charges of sorcery."

HAHAHAHA!!!!!!! Seriously? Someone get Abigail Williams on the phone, I think there's a full witch hunt about to go down.

[traceymarie]

11:20 AM on 05/09/2011

I believe the Iranians are realizing we Have an adult president in charge of Our COUNTRY, not a kid playing cowboy.

[pfz]

11:12 AM on 05/09/2011

"He turned me into a Newt and I was forced to move to America"