Demonstrators broker through security fences and branded Larijani a member of the ‘unperceptive elite’ and a ‘speaker without authority’ as he gave a speech marking the anniversary of the revolution in the city of Qom on Sunday.
In a separate speech, Iranian regime’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinajad meanwhile accused the speaker of trying to rig the forthcoming regime’s presidential elections in June.
He told his audience: “Some people want to manage and engineer the election. I say with honor that the great nation of Iran knows its course well and does not need false groups and people. Ethics and law must be observed”.
The allegations came after Ahmadinejad’s own opponents had accused supreme leader Ali Khamenei and his Revolutionary Guards of rigging the two previous elections in favor of Ahmadinejad.
The bitter infighting began when the parliament impeached and removed Ahmadinajad’s labour and social affairs minister from office.
Ahmadinejad hit back by screening a video about the speaker Larijani’s family, accusing them of corruption, bribery and nepotism.
Khamenei has now urged the leaders of the hostile factions not to air their differences, declaring: “They must set aside these misconducts that are being conducted in the public arena.”
Khamenei’s refusal to send a representative with Ahmadinejad on a recent trip to Egypt, nor send anyone to welcome him back to Tehran, was viewed by the Iranian media as a ‘warning’ to Ahamdinejad to halt his battle with Larijani.
But the rivalry has also had a serious impact on the authority of Khamenei, who is being viewed as ‘weak’ for being unable to bring it to an end.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
February 11, 2013
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