Arash Aramesh

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s speech at the United Nations on May 3 has been well received by pro-government circles in Iran, especially those close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. This warm approval by confidants of Khamenei suggests that Ahmadinejad’s speech was approved by the Supreme Leader prior to his visit to New York.

On Friday May 7, Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, one of Tehran’s conservative Friday prayer leaders, praised Ahmadinejad’s speech at the UN and said, “[Ahmadinejad] is worthy of praise for voicing what the Leader had said about the United States being the world’s chief nuclear criminal.”

According to Fars news, a semi-official news agency with ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Khatami said, “Our President appeared at this conference with courage, cleverness, and wit and screamed the message of you proud people at the heart of global imperialism.” He added, “If you want to see how effective his visit has been, you just need to look at the angry responses of imperialist governments and Zionist media.”

Regarding to talks with the 5+1 and the threat of sanctions against Iran, Khatami asserted, “Our ears are filled with their threats and their resolutions for thirty one years now. I repeat again that imperialist government should know they are not just facing a government, rather facing a nation that would defend its honor, faith, and its rights with all its powers.”

When it became apparent last October that Ahmadinejad was willing to accept the enriched uranium exchange deal, which would require Iran to send out 3 percent uranium in return for twenty-percent enriched fuel, Khamenei’s surrogates voiced fierce opposition to any such deal and insisted that any uranium exchange must take place inside Iran.

Poor cooperation with and lack of full approval from the Supreme Leader could result in defeat for any foreign policy issue brought forth by Ahmadinejad. Having learned his lesson in October, Ahmadinejad coordinated his message with the Supreme Leader’s office last week before leaving Tehran for New York.