ClericsAttack Ahmadinejad Over Mashaiee’s Ideas

Inside Iran - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is under an unprecedented wave of attacks. Ironically, his fiercest critics are his once die-hard supporters who backed him during the controversial 2009 presidential election. The new fight that has erupted among hardliners and conservatives alike is not about the poor state of the economy, nor is it about Iran’s international isolation. Rather, it is about who can take a bigger slice of the pie of power in Iran among the Islamic Republic’s greatest loyalists.

Hardliners criticizing Ahmadinejad argue that a “deviant” movement has taken hold from inside the administration and the perpetrators of this movement want to change the “ideological basis” of the Islamic Republic.

The critics are referring to a movement that is lead by Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaiee, President Ahmadinejad’s close friend, mentor, and current chief of staff. Mashaiee, according to his fearful critics, is accused of having formed an organization called “Path of Truth” in order to eliminate clerics from Iran’s Islamic government. Mashaiee has never confirmed the existence of such an organization but his conservative critics claim that Mashaiee has unholy and heretical “messianic” beliefs and that he is trying to set up the stage to succeed Ahmadinejad as Iran’s next president in 2013.

The 51-year-old Mashaiee is an electrical engineer by training, but spent most of his career in Iran’s security apparatus. He has no formal seminary training but claims to have new ideas and teachings in the Shiite school of Islam. It is believed that some of President Ahmadinejad’s most controversial remarks such as claiming that the “return of the Hidden Imam is imminent” were influenced by Mashaiee’s teachings and ideology. Recently, a CD-ROM video called “The Return is Imminent” was widely distributed in Iran, which angered many senior clerics. The film claims that Ahmadinejad is facilitating the return of the Hidden Imam. Conservatives believe that Mashaiee was behind the filming project and argue that Mashaiee is trying to strengthen his political fortunes by appealing to the Iranian people’s belief in religious notions such as the Hidden Imam.

In recent years, Mashaiee adopted a number of positions that angered the establishment and Iran’s senior clerics. His most famous remarks were uttered in July of 2008, when as the head of Iran’s tourism agency, he confessed his love for all the people around the world, including the people of Israel. His comments angered Iranian officials who believed Israel was their greatest enemy. Despite fierce criticism, President Ahmadinejad decided to promote Mashaiee in his second term and appointed him Vice President. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued an order and demanded Mashaiee be removed.

Last week, President Ahmadinejad removed Mashaiee as the director of the presidential office and compound, but kept him as his Chief of Staff; a position that would allow Mashaiee to play a great role in the day to day affairs of the administration. And he can continue to stage his future political campaigns from the closest office to President Ahmadinejad.

A number of hardliners and conservatives have warned Ahmadinejad that they will stop supporting his government if he does not cut off all his ties with Mashaiee. Some former Ahmadinejad supporters have already changed their minds and have begun to work against their once favorite president.

Ghasem Ravanbakhsh, a famous hardline cleric with close ties to the government, wrote in his personal blog that conservatives and principlists loyal to Supreme Leader Khamenei must “weep” for their past support for Ahmadinejad, expressing the high level of dissatisfaction among hardliners with President Ahmadinejad’s relationship with Mashaiee.

A group called the Hezbollah Coordination Council, composed of hardliners loyal to Khamenei, issued a statement recently in which they threatened to “reveal” the dirty secrets of Mashaiee and his supporters, should President Ahmadinejad continue to support him. Even Ayatollah Mohammad-Taghi Mesbah-Yazdi, who was once one of Ahmadinejad’s staunchest supporters, said in a speech that the danger of Mashaiee was “the greatest danger that has ever threatened Islam.”

The current situation has split the conservative camp. Supporters of the clergy and their continued presence and involvement in political affairs are on one side, and supporters of President Ahmadinejad and Mashaiee are on the other. This polarization has cost the government many loyal supporters. Therefore, it is expected that a massive, comprehensive, and harsh political cleansing process will begin to rid the Islamic Republic of conservatives who may cause problems in the upcoming parliamentary election.

It is unclear which faction will win this fight, but it is certain that both sides will use everything in their political and non-political arsenals to hold onto power. Ahmadinejad still enjoys the support of large segments of Iran’s security and intelligence forces. The IRGC, at least some very powerful circles within the Guards, are pleased with Ahmadinejad. But new tensions, especially within the ruling conservative camp, can deal major blows to the Islamic Republic’s unity and long-term survival.

Ashkan Parsa is the pseudonym for an Iranian journalist who left Iran less than five months ago.