How Khamenei played his ace to sideline Ahmadinejad
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appeared to be on the verge of disobeying Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei until the ayatollah went public with his disapproval.
Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad finally got the opportunity to meet with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Aug. 30. In the 40-minute meeting, Ahmadinejad reportedly sought to obtain Khamenei’s view on his pursuing a possible bid for the presidency in the May 2017 elections.
The media reported Ahmadinejad saying, “The weak actions of the [incumbent] government have left people devastated, and they ask me to enter the election.” The supreme leader is said to have replied, “Your [provincial] trips shouldn’t look electoral, because you are not supposed to take part in the competition.” Khamenei continued, “Your presence in the election will polarize it, and this is not in the interest of the revolution and the people, and you should resist these demands [of people].”
The meeting, and what transpired during it, was not supposed to have been made public. After Khamenei’s reported rejection of an Ahmadinejad candidacy, however, the circle around the former president began leaking details of the secret meeting on social networks, especially via Telegram, the popular smartphone app. The aim of the leaks appears to have been to rally public opinion in favor of allowing Ahmadinejad to run.
All the while, the Principlist former president remained silent, suggesting that he did not intend to sit back and forgo the election. As a result, conservatives who believed that Ahmadinejad was still planning to get back into the game wrote a series of articles confirming the secret meeting and asking him to obey the supreme leader.
