Iran’s Ahmadinejad Spurns Raisi’s Policies As Failures Add Up
Former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been distancing himself from President Ebrahim Raisi’s policies as his economic failures become obvious and dangerous.
Former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been distancing himself from President Ebrahim Raisi’s policies as his economic failures become obvious and dangerous.
Ahmadinejad has been recently criticizing Raisi’s economic and foreign policies. He has particularly lashed out at Raisi’s decision to eliminate food subsidies which has brought thousands of Iranians into the streets in many cities in several provinces.
Meanwhile, media and pundits in Tehran have noted that many of Raisi’s ministers including his ministers of labor, agriculture, economy and industry, and housing as well as his Vice Presidents for planning and budget and Vice President for executive affairs were officials in Ahmadinejad’s government or members of the ultraconservative Paydari Party, representing people associated with the former president.
During the past nine months one of the recurrent criticisms of the Raisi was that he is using Ahmadinejsd’s men in his economic team that is believed to be responsible for the failure of his declared policies about the economy, housing and employment.
According to moderate news website, Rouydad24, Ahmadinejad has been more visibly active after Raisi took office last August. He has been travelling around Iranian provinces, meeting with relatively large groups of people and many Iranians take their grievances to Ahmadinejad’s doorstep at Narmak neighbourhood in eastern Tehran.
During this period Ahmadinejad has also traveled abroad paying eye-catching visits to Turkey and the United Arab Emirates where he was welcomed by groups of Iranian expats and foreign-based Persian-speaking media. He has also continued writing long letters to political and religious dignitaries all over the world. In one of his latest letters, he warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that remaining in power for too long will lead to a dictatorship which is not in his or in Russia’s interest.
Ahmadinejad’s criticism of Raisi’s policies at times looks odd as both political observers and the man in the street notice the resemblance between Ahmadinejad and Raisi’s populist policies. Both talk about social justice and serving the nation in an identical way regardless of how genuine their statements are.
Critics liken Raisi’s policy of throwing money at problems regardless of long-term economic consequences much like Ahmadinejad did during his presidency. The significant difference is that the former president had much higher oil revenues than Raisi. However, Ahmadinejad has charged that the cash subsidy he started to pay to almost all Iranians regardless of their financial footing was about 40 dollars per person per month, while now Raisi cannot afford it because Iran’s currency has fallen 30-fold in the past 15 years.
He has also critiqued the elimination of food subsidies, saying to a crowd in Bushehr southern Iran: “You cannot do whatever you wish only because you are the boss! The nation will not allow anyone to do anything against the people’s will.”
The former President also lashed out at Raisi for “appointing small men to big jobs.” Meanwhile, he has harshly criticised Raisi administration’s policy about Afghanistan and the war in Ukraine. “Who gave you the permission to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine?” Ahmadinejad asked.
It took them only a few days to find out that that the Guardian Council, or in other words Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, has other plans for the country's future.
The Council under Khamenei’s supervision rejected almost all reformist and even moderate-conservative candidates, all but ensuring the election of the preferred hardliner candidate, Ebrahim Raisi.
Although two of the final candidates, former Central bank Governor Abdolnasser Hemmati and former Governor General of Khorasan Province Mohsen Mehralizadeh, liked to be characterized as "reformist," few politicians, let alone voters would recognize them as such. Some reformists even thought about forming coalitions with moderate conservative figures such as dormer Majles (parliament) Speaker Ali Larijani and former lawmaker Ali Motahari.
Today, after a year, some of them still occasionally get some press coverage while some others are absolutely silent and do not wish to be remembered as former candidates.
The reformists' first choice for the post, former Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif never registered as a candidate. Since then, he has been seen at two Ramadan banquets at the Presidential office and Khamenei's headquarters. Currently, he teaches at the University of Tehran and his political career appears to have come to an end after he charged in a leaked tape in April 2020 that former Qods Force Commander Qasem Soleimani got his orders from Russia.
One of the most likely candidates, former Vice President Es'haq Jahangiri who lost his popularity after his brother was indicted and jailed for financial corruption, became a target of attacks by hardliners in the new government and Majles who blamed him for economic problems. He never became a candidate either.
Former deputy interior minister Mostafa Tajzadeh was extremely vocal against the government ahead of the election and welcomed by younger reformists. However, at the end, he decided that neither him nor anyone else should run for president in protest to the Guardian Council's unilateral and widespread disqualification of pro-reform candidates.
Massoud Pezeshkian, a lawmaker from Tabriz and a vocal critic of former President Hassan Rouhani and Raisi, was disqualified by the Guardian Council. He currently runs Ensaf News website.
Mohammad Reza Aref who was harshly criticized for his aloofness and silence as the leader of the reform faction in the previous Majles, did not run and has kept silent after the 2021 election. Mohsen Hashemi, the chairman of Tehran City Council, appears to have quit his political career and is currently editing his father’s, former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani's memoirs. Last week he complained that the Culture Ministry has censored a large part of the latest volume.
Mostafa Kavakebian, the leader of the very small reformist party Mardom Salari, continues publishing his newspaper under the same name but appears undecided between criticizing Raisi or appeasing him in the hope of receiving some favors.
Regardless of strict opposition by clerics and hardliners to women running for president, former vice presidents Shahindokht Molaverdi and Zahra Shojaee were nominated for the post but were disqualified by the Guardian Council. Molaverdi currently works as a notary public and Shojaee is in bed with cancer. Both were active in trying to expand women’s rights.
Mohammad Sadeq Kharrazi, a relative of Khamenei, a former senior diplomat and the leader of Neda Party has quit politics without any explanation.
However, part of the reform camp, mainly right of center Kargozaran Party, does not seem to be affected by disillusionment and despair. As the party's leader Hossein Marashi has said in a recent interview: "We know that there are limitations, but there is no way for us other than political struggle." Marashi is famous for his motto: "Reforms are dead, long live the reforms!"