Until recently, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad behaved like a boxer who always knew that in fights against his rivals, the referee (i.e., the Iranian supreme leader) would back him. And he was right. The referee, who clearly favored him, was willing to overlook many things in his favor. In some cases, he also helped him, overtly and covertly. As Khamenei is Iran's most powerful authority, there was little that Ahmadinejad's rivals could do. Those days are gone.
Ahmadinejad has six weeks left in office — six weeks in the highest political office he has ever held and is likely ever to hold in his entire political life. What’s worse for him, however, is that his rivals know that the supreme leader will no longer be willing to throw fights his way, so they are going after him, verbally and politically. Until Ahmadinejad leaves office, the pent up anger felt by his rivals for the last eight years will continue to manifest itself in blows against him, and things could get much worse after he leaves office. At that point, the attacks could become more frequent and more merciless.
