Ahmadinejad slapped in the face by IRGC Commander

A recently leaked US embassy cable, written in February, said that “according to a source,” Revolutionary Guard Chief of Staff Mohammed Ali Jafari slapped Ahmadinejad during a mid-January meeting of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council held shortly after the Ashura demonstrations in Iran on 27 December.

According to this leaked WikiLeaks document, Jafari’s reaction was reportedly in response to Ahmadinejad’s suggestion that granting more freedoms would help defuse anti-regime sentiments in the country. The source close to the US embassy in the Azerbaijani capital Baku said that Ahmedinejad had claimed during the meeting, that "people feel suffocated," and said that it might prove necessary to allow "more personal and social freedoms, including more freedom of the press" in the country.

Ahmedinejad's statements reportedly infuriated the IRGC Commander and General Mohammed Ali Jafari, causing him to respond by shouting, “You are wrong! (In fact) it is YOU who created this mess! And now you say give more freedom to the press?!"

“The [s]ource said that Jafarli then slapped Ahmedinejad in the face, causing an uproar and an immediate call for a break in the meeting, which was never resumed,” said the cable which also adds that the Supreme National Security Council was not held again for another two weeks, after Ayatollah Janati succesfully acted as a “peacemaker” between Jafari and Ahmedinejad.

Following the post-election crackdown, dissident blogs and websites had reported deepening rifts among top military and political elites; however, no slaps were reported and none of the reports were confirmed by state officials who have not yet commented on the latest slapping revelation.

The source in Baku also described the overall situation among the political elite as “getting worse and worse,” adding that the instability in the country could not be sustained “indefinitely, and predicted that events are trending towards major developments and a new phases.”