Iran Today: Promoting Ahmadinejad and His Man for President

Ahmadinejad Watch --- MPs and Revolutionary Guards Slam President

Ahead of the formal declarations of candidates for June;s Presidential election, prominent figures have spoken out against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his close aide, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai.

Conservative MP Ali Motahari slammed Ahmadinejad, calling him a "spoilt child".

In a direct dig at the President and an indirect jibe at the Supreme Leader, Motahari --- a brother-in-law of Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani --- said that the current crisis in Iran is due both to of Ahmadinejad’s mismanagement and attitude and to the support that he had from "elders".

Motahari has previously tried to summon Ahmadinejad to Parliament to face questioning and possible impeachment.

Hojatoleslam Mojtaba Zolnour, the Supreme Leader's deputy representative to the Revolutionary Guards, has said Ahmadinejad has no power to create problems in the upcoming Presidential elections.

Zolnour said that even if the Guardian Council approves Ahmadinejad's man Rahim-Mashai, he will not get any votes.

Hojatoleslam Mehdi Taeb, the head of the Ammar Strategic Base --- an organization established to fight the so-called “soft war” against Iran --- also spoke out against Ahmadinejad's policies.

Taeb said that last year he warned Ahmadinejad to stay away from Rahim-Mashai, who would disgrace him.

Basij Watch

The Basij has put out a statement in several Iranian news outlets claiming its sites, including basij.ir, have come under a cyber-attack originating from Poland.

The statement accused the United States of perpetrating the attacks ahead of the June 14 presidential election. “Due to the impending election, elements of the global arrogance have launched a new round of cyberattacks against Basij websites, particularly Basij.ir,” the statement said.

Election Watch (Ahmadinejad/Rahim-Mashai Edition)

More on our opening entry and the speech of President Ahmadinejad's right-hand man Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai as he pursues a possible Presidential campaign....

Rahim-Mashai, who has been criticised for preferring Iranian nationalism to Islam, talked about the Iranian school and said, "We should introduce Islam with the Iranian interpretation."

Rahim-Mashai asserted, "Today Ahmadinejad is the most popular figure in Iran --- more than ever. His great sin is that he managed to knock down many inside and outside Iran."

The former Chief of Staff to the President also jabbed at those who have criticised him for using the slogan “Greeting the Spring” as a slogan: "Unfortunately I don’t know why some people have allergy to this. of course there are people whose allergies started with Spring."

Election Watch: Supreme Leader's Man Haddad Adel Making A Break for Presidential Run?

Leading MP Gholam Ali Haddad Adel, a member of the Supreme Leader's 2+1 Committee seeking a unity candidate, has again indicated that he is making a break for his own run for the office.

Haddad Adel emphasised that he is standing and said, "I will not step down during the election."

The MP forecast that former President Hashemi Rafsanjani will not become a candidate and that former President Mohammad Khatami and President Ahmadinejad's right-hand man Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai will not qualify to stand.

Election Watch: Khatami, Rafsanjani, and "Sedition"

Minister of intelligence Heydar Moslehi, has harshly criticised former Presidents Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami, without naming them.

As Rafsanjani has put signals that he might run in June's Presidential election, Moslehi warned both men that "they should not make a mistake".

The Minister of Intelligence continued, with reference to the protesters after the disputed Presidential election, "If the State has not arrested them like the leaders of the sedition [opposition figures Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, both under house arrest since February 2011], it is because of the patience that the State have towards these people."

Moslehi said of Rafsanjani, "The person who wrote a letter without greetings to Supreme Leader --- today says he had foreseen the sedition. In fact, we have evidence that this person himself was leading the sedition."

Election Watch: Principalist Coalition of Five To Declare Candidate?

Presidential hopeful, former interior minister, and current head of the General Inspection Office Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi has said that the Principalist Coalition of Five will declare a candidate soon.

As well as Pourmohammadi, the Coalition of Five includes former foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, vice parliamentary speakers Mohammad-Reza Bahonar and Mohammad-Hassan Aboutorabi-Fard, and head of Tehran Chamber of Commerce Yahya Al-e Eshaq.

Pourmohammadi said that his coalition would not form an alliance with the 2+1 coalition, which comprises Tehran mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the Supreme Leader's advisor on International AffairsAli Akbar Velayati and MP Ghollam Ali Haddad Adel.

Sanctions Watch: Turkish Gold to Iran Rises

Turkey’s gold exports to Tehran more than doubled through March, even as Ankara's overall gold trade receded.

The sharp rise in Turkish gold to Iran since last year had been halted in January, suggesting a cut-off of a vital financial lifeline for the Islamic Repbulic amid sanctions blocking financial transactions.

However, the export of almost $381 million of gold to Iran in March, primarily in exchange for Iranian natural gas, indicates that Turkey is willing to risk US penalties.

Turkey, Iran’s biggest natural gas customer, has been paying Tehran for its imports in Turkish Liras, because American restrictions prevent payment in dollars or Euros. Iranians then use those liras, held in Halkbank accounts, to buy gold in Turkey, and couriers carry bullion worth millions of dollars in hand luggage to Dubai, where it can be sold for foreign currency or shipped to Iran.

Rising throughout the last year, Turkey’s gold exports to Iran peaked at $1.8 billion in July 2012.

Economy Watch

MP Hossein Mahjoub claims, in an interview with the reformist newspaper Shargh, that 200,000 Iranians have lost jobs each year since 2005 and that more than 3000 production units have shut down.

Election Watch: Ahmadinejad/Rahim-Mashai Edition

With five days to go before hopefuls formally declare their candidacies, news in Iran is dominated by June's Presidential election this morning.

State outlet Press TV --- keen on showing a vibrant contest --- are offering snapshots of almost all of the hopefuls. Pro-government state news agency IRNA, however, has another agenda: promotion of President Ahmadinejad and his would-be successor, Ahmadinejad's right-hand man Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai.

As usual, IRNA is headlining a speech by the President --- in this case, an appearance in Rasht in which he said "the pressures mounted by the West on Iran have backfired, and the West is now grappling with economic and political problems".

This morning, however, the outlet also has Rahim-Mashai in its top stories, using his address on Wednesday to students, youth, and social workers.

The opening thrust is that people should not be afraid of Government --- presumably Ahmadinejad's Government, in Rahim-Mashai served as Chief of Staff.

There is also an interesting claim that American officials are seeking to meet Ahmadinejad, and general invocations to follow the "intellectual system of the Islamic Republic" and to pursue "freedom and dignity".