Arash Aramesh

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei met members of the Assembly of Experts February 25. According to IRNA, the Islamic Republic’s News Agency, Khamenei asked those loyal to the Islamic Republic to turn their backs on the enemies of the regime and take clearer positions.

According to Tabnak, a news site close to former Revolutionary Guards Commander Mohsen Rezai, the Supreme Leader pointed out the necessity of Iranian officials taking clear positions and asserted, “Deemphasizing these boundaries [between us and the enemy] is a grave mistake and will cause confusion for people. Therefore, [we] must fully distance ourselves from the enemy and make our boundaries [with the enemy] very clear.”

Some observers believe that Khamenei’s remarks about taking clearer positions was directed at Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, the chairman of the Assembly of Experts and one of the founders of the Islamic Republic, who has sympathized with the opposition in the past eight months. while also declaring his loyalty to Khamenei. Rafsanjani has been attacked by pro-government media and individuals for lending his support to Mir Hossein Moussavi during his presidential campaign and staying relatively silent since the disputed June 12 election and its aftermath.

Rafsanjani, who is a moderate conservative, is the chairman of two key institutions in Iran: the Assembly of Experts, which is responsible for monitoring the performance of the Leader, and selecting a new Leader should Khamenei die, resign, or be removed from office, and the Expediency Council, which is mainly responsible for solving disagreements between the parliament and the Guardian Council.

According to the official website of the Supreme Leader, in another part of his speech to the Assembly of Experts, Ayatollah Khamenei compared the Islamic Republic to a “ship of safety” similar to Noah’s Arch and implicitly warned the leaders of the opposition and said, “Those who are not willing to accept the laws and the will of the majority, and turn the participation of 40 million Iranians in the recent election into a point of weakness [for the regime], have practically left the ship of safety and have lost their legitimacy to be part of the Islamic Republic.”

Political commentators close to the opposition are worried that Rafsanjani and Khamenei have reached a backdoor deal in which Khamenei will allow moderate conservatives to have a more important role in the Iranian government, while keeping the influence and power of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his faction in check.