Arash Aramesh

Two days before the start of the Iranian New Year, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited the Shiite holy city of Qom to pay his respects to a number of high-ranking clerics and Grand Ayatollahs.

According to Fars News, a news site with intimate ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, and IRNA, the Islamic Republic’s News Agency, Ahmadinejad held private meetings with Grand Ayatollahs Naser Makarem-Shirazi, Ali Nouri-Hamedani, and Jafar Sobhani. Pro-government sources did not report on Ahmadinejad’s meeting with Grand Ayatollah Moussavi-Ardebili, a source of emulation with close ties to the Green Movement.

According to Raja, a pro-Ahmadinejad website, the President’s visits were highly successful and the Grand Ayatollahs warmly welcomed the president. Ayatollah Nouri-Hamedani, the only Grand Ayatollah who has consistently supported Ahmadinejad, praised the administration’s efforts.

During his one-day visit, Ahmadinejad also met with Ayatollah Mohammad-Taghi Mesbah-Yazdi, Ahmadinejad’s religious mentor, Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, the chairman of Qom’s Seminary Teachers’ Association, and a number of other senior clerics.

The relationship between Ahmadinejad and Iran’s traditional clerics deteriorated after the government’s crackdown of demonstrators this past summer, after the disputed June 12 presidential election. With the exception of Nouri-Hamedani, whose religious credentials are questionable, no other Grand Ayatollah congratulated Ahmadinejad on his victory.

Qom’s tense relationship with the administration became worse when the president decided to appoint three women as cabinet ministers. Grand Ayatollahs Makarem-Shirazi and Safi-Golpaygani wrote letters opposing and condemning Ahmadinejad’s decision; an opposition that fell on deaf ears in Tehran.

Because of the private nature of these meetings, it is unclear what was exchanged between Ahmadinejad and these Grand Ayatollahs. But what is clear is that Ahmadinejad has lost the approval of a number of senior clerics in Qom who are not willing to meet with the President of the Islamic Republic. In another words, it is important to pay attention to the list of those Grand Ayatollahs who did not receive a New Year visit from the president.

Grand Ayatollahs Yousef Sanei and Bayat-Zanjani are among major sources of emulation that have fallen out of favor with the current government. But there are a number of conservative clerics who disapprove of the government’s policies and actions. Chief among these Grand Ayatollahs is Abdollah Javadi-Amoli who stepped aside as Qom’s Friday prayer leader in a sing of protest to government actions in recent months. Ayatollah Amini is another senior conservative cleric who has complained against government policies.

A long list of names can be put together of conservative Ayatollahs at odds with Ahmadinejad. Despite the president’s hope for repairing his damaged ties with Qom, senior conservative clerics are uneasy about the handling of the June 12 election and its aftermath. They are also concerned about Ahmadinejad’s intimate ties to the IRGC and his insistence on undermining and attacking Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, a man who has been warmly received by Qom’s Ayatollahs many times in the past few months.