Iran’s supreme leader defends Ahmadinejad
Iran’s top leader strongly backed the nation’s embattled president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, praising him for “standing up” to the West and urging him to plan for a second four-year term, state media reported Sunday.
The comments by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei represent unusually glowing praise of the president, who upon his election in 2005 sparked a confrontation with the West by resuming uranium enrichment and vociferously denouncing Israel.
It is the first time that Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters in Iran, has expressed such strong support for any other Iranian politician.
“Do not think that this year is your final year. No. Work as if you will stay in charge for five years. In another words, imagine that in addition to this year, another four years will be under your management, and plan and act accordingly,” IRNA quoted Khamenei as saying Sunday.
Ahmadinejad is facing a firestorm of criticism at home, particularly over his handling of the economy. He won office on a campaign promise to distribute Iran’s oil wealth to each family. But Iran increasingly faces skyrocketing food and fuel prices, unemployment and inflation.
The current government has helped “revive” the values of the 1979 Islamic revolution that transformed Iran into a strict theocracy, state TV quoted Khamenei as saying during a meeting with Ahmadinejad and his Cabinet Saturday.
“Some bullying and brazen countries and their worthless followers wanted to impose their will on the Iranian nation, but … the president and the government have stood up to their excessive demands and moved forward,” he said.
The U.N. Security Council has imposed three sets of sanctions against Iran for refusing to halt uranium enrichment, a technology that can be used to create fuel for nuclear power plants or build an atomic bomb.
Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only, to generate power and reduce the country’s reliance on oil. But the United States and its allies accuse it of seeking to develop nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran denies.
Khamenei also praised Ahmadinejad for “blocking the infiltration of a Westernization trend in the government,” an apparent criticism of former reformist president Mohammad Khatami who sought closer ties with the West.
The recent criticism of the president has focused on the economy, which has foundered amid global food shortages as well as sanctions imposed by the West.
Last week, a still-powerful former president, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, lambasted Ahmadinejad’s handling of the economy, blaming him for gas shortages in winter and power cuts during summer.
Dozens of people froze to death last winter in Iran because of natural gas cuts that left them without heat in their homes.
Iranian newspapers also quoted Rafsanjani as telling university teachers last week that Khamenei asked him and other top authorities to tolerate Ahmadinejad’s government for some time but that the era of leniency was now over.
“We tolerated the executive power in these three years. Now, we can say it’s over,” Rafsanjani was quoted as saying.
Ahmadinejad basked in Khamenei’s approval, IRNA reported Sunday.
“The exalted leader’s approval of the government’s direction is a shining medal on our hearts,” the agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.
Political analyst Majid Mehrabi said Khamenei’s strong support was meant to defuse the growing attacks against the president.
“Khamenei’s comment is an open support for Ahmadinejad. His backing of Ahmadinejad is also an answer to growing criticism of the government,” said Mehrabi, a writer at the conservative Hamshahri daily.
The government estimates Iran’s unemployment rate at 10 percent, but economists say it could be as high as 30 percent.