TEHRAN: Campaigning for Iran’s presidential election took a dramatic twist yesterday when a powerful cleric issued a rare warning to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, saying his silence over President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s “lies” could trigger social upheaval.
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former president and head of the Expediency Council — Iran’s top political arbitration body — protested to Khamenei over Ahmadinejad’s remark accusing his family of receiving financial privileges in the past.
Ahmadinejad, who is seeking a second term in tomorrow’s election, made the accusation during a stormy debate on state television with his main rival, the moderate former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi.
A furious Rafsanjani fired off a letter to Khamenei, which was published in several newspapers, saying he had personally told Ahmadinejad to take back the remarks.
He said Ahmadinejad’s “irresponsible and untruthful remarks” were similar to the “bitter remarks of monafeqeen (hypocrites) and anti-revolutionaries during the early years of the Islamic revolution.”
Rafsanjani, who was defeated by Ahmadinejad in the 2005 presidential election, urged Khamenei to resolve the spat, the latest example of mudslinging by Iranian leaders that has dogged the election campaign.
“I ask your eminence, given your position, responsibility and personality, to solve this problem and act in a way you deem right to take effective action in eliminating the mutiny,” he said.
Such a message to Khamenei is rare in the Islamic republic where the supreme leader is the ultimate authority and has the final say on all strategic issues. Earlier yesterday, Ahmadinejad said at an election rally in Tehran he will counter attacks on him by his rivals, adding he will “elaborate on their manipulation of graphs on television... and will respond to the allegations.”
Ahmadinejad also accused his election rivals of adopting smear tactics used by Germany’s dictator Adolf Hitler and said they could face jail for insulting him. Ahmadinejad said his rivals had broken laws against insulting the president.
