He criticized the head of executive, legislative and judicial branches of the Iranian regime. “People need calmness, psychological and moral security in their lives,” Khamenei said.
Bitter internal feuding between Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the speaker of the Iranian parliament has been escalating ahead of the regime’s presidential elections in June this year.
The infighting began when the parliament impeached and removed President Ahmadinajad’s labour and social affairs minister from office.
On February 3 – now known as “black Sunday”, Ahmadinejad hit back by screening a video about the speaker Ali Larijani’s family, who are legislative and judiciary heads, accusing them of corruption, bribery and nepotism.
Larijani responded by branding Ahmadinejad an ‘immoral mafia-like gangster’, and then had the president’s ally and former Tehran prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi arrested for two days.
“This is bad. This is wrong and against the law and Sharia (Islamic law) and morals, and violates the rights of people,” said Khamenei in remarks reported by state television on Saturday.
“One head of a branch (Ahmadinejad) uses an accusation that is unproven in court and accuses the other two branches — parliament and the judiciary.”
On Saturday Khamenei criticised Larijani’s handling of the session, saying he had “gone too far in defending himself” against Ahmadinejad.
He criticized the impeachment itself as a “bad decision” since Ahmadinejad will leave office in the summer when his term is over.
Khamenei also criticized the judiciary for “inaction” against corruption.
The Wall Street Journal described the “Black Sunday” infighting as “erosion in the authority of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final word on all state matters. Mr. Khamenei has repeatedly warned rival political factions not to publicize their spats. In October, he said that anyone who creates divisions in the run-up to June presidential elections has committed treason.”
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Iran: Despite Khamenei’s orders, infighting intensifies