Arash Aramesh

Mehdi Karroubi’s remarks yesterday recognizing Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the head of government in the Islamic Republic has caused many figures of various political factions to react to his comments. Karroubi said that despite widespread electoral fraud, he recognized that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was the official head of government because the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei signed off on his presidential decree making him the head of the Iranian state.

The day after, however, Karroubi was clear about his statement that caused many to believe he was backing down from his earlier demands and was working to make a deal with the government. According to Tuesday’s report in Sahamnews, the official website of Karroubi’s Etemad Melli Party, Karroubi said, “I will never compromise on the essential rights of the people.” He added, “One of the most important rights of the people is their votes, which they cast. I will be with the people all the way to the end and will try my best for free elections. I will announce the details of my position … to the people of Iran.”

Members of Karroubi’s party and those close to him tried to elaborate on what Karroubi really meant by his remarks. According to them, Karroubi was only saying that he “recognized” Ahmadinejad as the “head of government” in Iran while refusing to “accept” him as the “elected president” of the Islamic Republic.

Some members of the opposition have expressed support for Karroubi’s statements, arguing that Karroubi did not accept the legitimacy of Ahmadinejad’s presidency and was saying that, despite the irregularities of the June 12 election, he is the official head of government in Iran.

Others in the opposition camp expressed their discomfort with Karroubi’s remarks and said they feared Karroubi and former president Mohammad Khatami were trying to reach a back-door deal with the conservative establishment. The reformist Irandokht magazine published parts of a letter that was allegedly written by Khatami to the Supreme Leader. According to Irandokht, Khatami wrote that he recognized Ahmadinejad as the president of the Islamic Republic and complained about the radicals on both sides of the conflict.

Today, Zahra Rahnavard, the wife of former presidential candidate Mir Hossein Moussavi, said in an interview with Rooz Online that she will neither recognize Ahmadinejad as president nor will she make any deals behind closed doors, suggesting that Karroubi might have made a deal with the conservatives prior to making his widely-publicized remarks.

Pro-government Kayhan dedicated its main headline to Karroubi’s remarks and wrote in bold, “The street was a dead end. Those involved in the sedition backpedaled.” Kayhan reported that members of the opposition who spoke at the Mardomsalari Party’s annual meeting, where Karroubi made his controversial remarks, tried to distance themselves from the events of the past seven months. Kayhan was suggesting that opposition leaders were trying to ask the government to excuse them for their activities with the opposition. Kayhan went further by saying that Karroubi’s remarks were the continuation of backpedaling by Hashemi-Rafsanjani and Mir Hossein Moussavi, both of whom have given speeches and issued statements in the past month, refusing to call the Ahmadinejad administration illegitimate.

Today, in a meeting with visitors from the Mazandaran province, Supreme Leader Khamenei said that he will not budge. He said, “Everyone should know that we will not make concessions [or pay ransom] neither on behalf of the Iranian people nor on my own.” This seems to be a public rejection of Khatami’s letter written to Khamenei asking for a rapprochement to ease Iran’s tense environment.