Hardliners hit out at Iranian president

PRESIDENT Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, already at the centre of a post-election crisis, came under criticism from his own hardline supporters yesterday for appointing a first vice president who once caused an outcry by saying Iranians were friends of Israelis.

Ahmadinejad has been under siege by opposition supporters who claim he stole last month’s election from pro-reform candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi.

The latest criticism was a reminder that while hardliners have supported Ahmadinejad in the election dispute, they often criticised him before the vote, especially over his handling of Iran’s economy.

Ahmadinejad appointed Esfandiar Rahim Mashai, his son’s father-in-law, as his first vice president on Friday. Mashai angered hard- liners in 2008 when he said Iranians were “friends of all people in the world – even Israelis”.

Mashai was serving as vice president in charge of tourism and cultural heritage at the time. Iran has 12 vice presidents, but the first vice president is the most important because he leads cabinet meetings in the absence of the president.

Hossein Shariatmadari, an aide to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and editor of hardline Kayhan newspaper, said yesterday that Mashai’s appointment caused “a wave of surprise mixed with regret and concern” among Ahmadinejad supporters.

“Many of the closest individuals to the president strongly oppose the appointment,” he said.

Most hardliners consider Israel to be Iran’s archenemy, and Ahmadinejad himself has repeatedly called for the Jewish state’s destruction.

Khamenei, who has supported Ahmadinejad in the election dispute, called Mashai’s comments about Israelis “illogical” but urged critics to abandon their call for the president to fire his relative.

Ali Motahari, a prominent hardline lawmaker, said lawmakers should summon Ahmadinejad to parliament to express opposition to Mashai.

Others said they planned to appeal to Khamenei to reverse the appointment.

Hardliners accused one of Iran’s most powerful clerics, former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani of defying Khamenei by using his Friday sermon to encourage opposition supporters to continue their protests.

Authorities detained 40 on Friday after police clashed with thousands of protesters in the biggest opposition show of strength in weeks, the Fars news agency reported yesterday.