Arash Aramesh
The Iranian government is making an effort to downplay the widening rift among the ruling elite that led to the removal of Ali-Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani as the head of the Assembly of Experts. During Tehran’s Friday prayer sermon on March 11, conservative cleric and member of the Assembly of Experts Ayatollah Mohammad Imami-Kashani applauded members of the Assembly for voting with “unity” to elect a new chairman and praised both Rafsanjani and Ayatollah Mohammad-Reza Mahdavi-Kani, the outgoing and the incoming chairmen of the Assembly respectively. more»
Arash Aramesh
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei met with members of the Assembly of Experts March 10 and congratulated the new Chairman of the Assembly, Ayatollah Mohammad-Reza Mahdavi-Kani. The Iranian leader seemed very pleased with the Assembly’s new pick for chairman and described Mahdavi-Kani’s election as “appropriate and just.” more»
Shayan Ghajar
While Ayatollah Rafsanjani has suffered a significant defeat by losing the chairmanship of the Assembly of Experts on March 8, his opponents do not appear to be done with harassing him quite yet. Fars News, a site affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps with pro-Ahmadinejad leanings, published numerous articles March 9 about the defeat as well as some near-celebratory coverage of yet another attempt to humiliate Rafsanjani. Ahmadinejad’s supporters’ antics, however, are alienating some of the most prominent and longstanding members of the Islamic Republic’s traditional elites. more»
Arash Aramesh
The state-run media in Iran is trying to place its spin on an apparent decision to replace Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani as the head of the Assembly of Experts with Mohammad Reza Mahdavi Kani, a traditionalist cleric. The media is trying to claim that Rafsanjani was no longer interested in the job. more»
Arash Aramesh
In an editorial in Kayhan, the largest state-run newspaper in Iran with ties to hardliners, editor-in-chief Hossein Shariatmadari criticized Grand Ayatollah Abdolkarim Moussavi-Ardebili, a prominent cleric and the former Chief Justice of Iran under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. more»
