WarSclerotic

A senior Iranian cleric on Friday warned President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad not to overestimate his power.

Ahmadinejad is reportedly involved in a dispute with the country’s clergy for allegedly having ignored the orders Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei over the dismissal of the intelligence chief.

	Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
	Photo by: AP

According to the Iranian constitution, Khamenei has the final say on all state matters and can even veto decisions by the president on certain cabinet matters.

“The president should know that the majority vote for him was not absolute but conditional on his obedience towards the orders by the supreme leadership,” the influential Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami said at the Friday prayer ceremony.

“The top of the system is the constitution, which has clarified the power structure,” said Khatami, who is deputy head of the Experts Assembly, a clergy body.

The controversy started earlier this month after Ahmadinejad dismissed his intelligence chief Heydar Moslehi but faced a veto by Khamenei, who insisted that Moslehi should stay in his post.

Ahmadinejad has not yet reacted to the issue and for more than week has avoided any public appearance and reportedly has not attended the weekly cabinet session.

There are even rumors that Ahmadinejad is at his home in eastern Tehran and no longer at the presidential office and plans to resign.

These rumors have not been officially confirmed but, according to the local press, Ahmadinejad is supposed to hold a speech on state-run television within the next days.

Khamenei last week reiterated his constitutional right to veto any decisions by Ahmadinejad he considered as not being in line with national interests.

The leader firmly supported Ahmadinejad following his 2009 re-election, although the vote itself was overshadowed by fraud charges. Khamenei is reportedly not satisfied by some of the president’s economic and political decisions.

According to observers, one of the main disputes between Khamenei and Ahmadinejad is the president’s chief of staff, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei, who has stressed the Iranian rather than the Islamic status of the country.

The clergy reacted with anger to his remarks and also blamed the president for supporting Mashaei, whose daughter is married to Ahmadinejad’s son, for his anti-Islamic and nationalistic remarks.

Another controversy is Ahmadinejad’s alleged plan to make Mashaei his successor in the 2013 presidential election. Asked by the local press, Mashaei only said he would comment on the issue when time was ripe.