Shayan Ghajar and Mahour S.

Opposition website RaheSabz, affiliated with the Green Movement, published a lengthy interview with Mehdi Karroubi regarding the future of the Green Movement and its strategies in an increasingly hostile atmosphere leading up to the anniversary of the June 12, 2009 presidential election. While some of Karroubi’s statements were rehashings of previous speeches the opposition leader has made, Karroubi went so far as to strongly imply that the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei needs to be subject to greater oversight by the Council of Experts. This marks a major shift in the goals of the Green Movement’s de facto leadership.

Karroubi began his interview by evaluating the events leading to the birth of the Green Movement, much of which has been stated in dozens of his previous speeches. Karroubi did have some very pointed remarks, however, regarding the way the current government treats the founding fathers of the Islamic Revolution: when asked if he predicted the current condition of the founders of the Revolution, he replied that he did predict that they would be sidelined after the death of Ayatollah Khomeini, but that he never predicted that the first generation of notable revolutionary figures would be so harshly silenced, imprisoned or sidelined and “all of this for a single person, who is a now in charge of the country.”

Referring to the early arrest of Moussavi and Karroubi representatives, who were to follow the case of post-election victims, Karroubi once again emphasized that the Green movement would not have been possible without the leadership of the people, as official opposition leaders were being imprisoned. “This is a movement led by the people, they are its very heartbeat and they will take it in whatever direction they think best,” he said. But he also emphasized that he was completely satisfied with his own performance in the past year, has never been willing to compromise on his principles and will be ready to pay the ultimate price.

With regards to the grassroots nature of the Green Movement, with its lack of any centralized planning or coordinating organizations, Karroubi maintained his belief that the decentralized nature of the Green Movement is one of its greatest strengths. The interviewer asked if it would not be more efficient to have a clear-cut body for steering the movement, to which Karroubi retorted that any attempts at organizing the Greens results in immediate arrests of the persons involved, which only weakens the movement further.
As for concrete future strategies or explicit goals for the Green Movement, Karroubi had little to offer. The only point he raised for the Green Movement’s future activities was a request to avoid extremist actions or statements, both inside the country and in expatriate communities abroad. Inside the country, he urged protesters to be vigilant against subversive elements that encourage others to shout slogans that support radical viewpoints. For expatriates, he urged the same, saying that extremism in any form, inside and outside Iran, just provides more excuses for the government to oppress the populace.

Karroubi did make one concrete point, however, that will draw the attention of the highest echelons of Iran’s government: he highlighted the fact that during the early years of Khamenei’s leadership, the Supreme Leader’s actions were meant to be subject to oversight and scrutiny by the Assembly of Experts, a branch of the government specifically geared towards monitoring Iran’s highest authority. Later on, however, the selection of candidates for the Assembly of Experts became subject to the scrutiny of one of the Supreme Leader’s own hand-picked councils, stacking the deck in Khamenei’s favor and in effect annexing the institution into his control.

Karroubi repeatedly emphasized the importance of enforcing and implementing Article 108 of the Iranian Constitution, which outlines the purpose and structure of the Assembly of Experts in ensuring the Supreme Leader remains within the bounds of the position’s mandate.

In doing so, Karroubi was committing nothing short of political heresy in Iran’s current political atmosphere. By implying that the position of Supreme Leader needs more oversight, and that Khamenei deliberately stacked the Assembly with his own allies, Karroubi is stating that he believes Khamenei to be misguided and that his status of Supreme Leader is almost illegitimate with regards to the original intent of the post. Unless the Constitution is implemented, Karroubi was implying, the post of Supreme Leader is invalid.

This stance marks an important shift in the Green Movement’s leadership’s goals–while many protesters have decried Khamenei’s actions in their slogans, until now no prominent Green Movement figure has targeted Khamenei’s legitimacy itself.