Ahmadinejad faces heavyweight foe
By Omid Memarian
NEW YORK - This week, Iran's new speaker of its parliament, or Majlis, Ali
Larijani, proposed forming two joint committees of the legislative and
judiciary branches in an effort to reconcile new legislation with the Islamic
penal code.
The step is viewed as part of Larinaji's enthusiasm to build strategic
alliances within Iran's political establishment to enhance the stature of
parliament, which been criticized for a lack of independence and efficiency in
the past four years.
Larijani is expected to be a serious critic of President Mahmud Ahmadinejad in
the coming years. He has close ties to new technocrat leaders, such as the
former head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, Mohsen Rezaii, and the
popular
mayor of Tehran, Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf - considered the leading potential
rival of Ahmadinejad in the 2009 presidential elections.
Larijani is also one of the closest and most loyal politicians to Supreme
Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - who has reportedly called him "my son" in
private gatherings - and the traditional fundamentalist clergy. Over the past
two decades, Larijani has held some of the highest appointed positions in the
country, such as the supreme leader's representative on the National Security
Council and Expediency Council. The position of speaker of parliament is his
first elected office.
Larijani is the son of a grand ayatollah and is son-in-law to Ayatollah
Motahari, a cleric for whom Khamenei holds great respect. Over the past 20
years, he has maintained a close relationship with fundamentalist clergy, to
the point where prior to running in the parliamentary elections, he visited
many leading clerics in Qom, later stating that his candidacy was a direct
result of their urging.
Larijani shrewdly decided not to contest the more competitive constituency of
Tehran, choosing to run in Qom instead, a city which is the seat of his main
base of support. Even so, speculation about a move to parliament started last
year when he resigned just as then-Russian president Vladimir Putin was
visiting Iran.
Ahmadinejad had engineered Larijani's resignation as head of the negotiating
team on Iran's nuclear issue. Whenever Larijani made any progress in his
negotiations with the Europeans, Ahmadinejad would deliver a speech to discount
his achievements.
At one meeting in September 2006, Larijani had agreed to a Western offer that
Iran suspend its enrichment activities just for a few days, claiming equipment
failure, so that Tehran could save face and European countries could announce
an agreement.
But before the news of such agreement could even be analyzed in Tehran, in a
speech in Karaj, Ahmadinejad exposed the contents of the negotiations and
declared that Iran would never concede to such a proposal. It put an immediate
stop to weeks of talks aimed at easing a series of UN Security Council
resolutions against Iran.
Larijani, who had assumed his role as chief of the negotiating team after
relentlessly criticizing then-president Mohammad Khatami's policies on the
nuclear issue, was later surprised to see the Iranian dossier move rapidly from
the International Atomic Energy Agency Board to the Security Council, learning
quickly that while some political stances are tolerated inside Iran, they will
not be tolerated within international diplomatic circles.
The novice diplomat earned three UN Security Council resolutions against Tehran
in less than a year, leading him to depart his most unglamorous position in a
short time and with ill feelings.
In the 2004 elections, out of eight presidential candidates, Larijani came in
seventh, but he never accepted Ahmadinejad as his boss, acting as though they
were equals. For his part, Ahmadinejad was determined to take back Larijani's
appointment to the National Security Council from the supreme leader. Perhaps
Larijani realized too late that he may have acted hastily in accepting
Khamenei's consolation prize for his failure in the elections.
Though Larijani never explicitly addressed his differences with Ahmadinejad in
public, he was vociferous in attacking his policies in private. In the
political atmosphere of Iran, this endeared Larijani to analysts and the
public, somewhat mitigating the negative memories of his mismanagement of the
nuclear negotiations.
What makes Larijani unpopular among most reformists and even some conservatives
in Iran is his utter devotion to Khamenei. During Larijani's 10-year tenure as
head of the Islamic Republic's state television (IRIB), he accepted and carried
out assignments that caused politicians of all ideological stripes to be
disgusted with him.
Under Larijani's leadership, IRIB permitted members of the security services to
film political prisoners giving fabricated confessions, aired a fake political
teaser to destroy Khatami's presidential bid, and selectively broadcast
portions of a conference in Berlin which led to imprisonment of many Iranian
intellectuals.
These defamation campaigns created a wide impression that Larijani was a puppet
of the conservative camp. Interestingly enough, rumors of his disagreements
with Ahmadinejad are now reviving his reputation and his
entirely-by-appointment political life.
Larijani's presence in the Iranian parliament while Ahmadinejad aspires to a
second term has generated excitement in political circles. With skyrocketing
oil revenues accompanied by out-of-control inflation rates, soaring costs of
living and the international threats looming over the country, the Iranian
parliament will face growing pressure from Iranians to do something about
Ahmadinejad's performance. This could lead to a rift between the government and
parliament.
Larijani enjoys a strong political background and is generally a decisive and
charismatic politician. When the fundamentalist majority representatives
gathered to vote for their leadership, he won 160 of 227 votes, with former
speaker Haddad Adel receiving only 50 votes.
At the same time, Larijani is known for his unquestionable obedience to the
supreme leader, and depending on Khamenei's outlook and decisions, Larijani
will not have a lot of room to maneuver. If the supreme leader orders a stop to
Ahmadinejad's wasteful economic and political plans, however, Larijani is the
man who will be capable of mobilizing resistance in parliament.
While Larijani's elitist rhetoric may not have the same appeal as Ahmadinejad's
populist persona, his position as speaker can do a lot of damage to the halo
the president has successfully wrapped around himself.
Omid Memarian is World Peace Fellow at UC Berkeley's Graduate School of
Journalism. He is the recipient of Human Rights Watch's Human Rights Defender
award and a regular contributor to Inter Press Service.
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