It all began with petitions signed by "the revolutionary people" of Karaj, a city west of the capital Tehran, where parliament speaker Ali Larijani was scheduled to deliver a speech on the upcoming 40th anniversary of Iran's Islamic Revolution Feb. 11. According to ultra-conservative outlet Raja News, the petitions were an expression of anger backed by the city's Friday prayer leader Seyyed Mohammad Mehdi Hosseini Hamedani, who declared it a "legitimate" protest.

The hard-line cleric openly demanded that the speech be canceled. "The ceremony is meant to commemorate the revolution. The speaker of that ceremony must be a revolutionary, too," Hamedani's website quoted him as saying.

The term "revolutionary," a recurrent motif in speeches by Iran's supreme leader, has increasingly come to reference people he and figures close to him view as committed to the basic principles of the Islamic Republic. Critics perceive it as a euphemism for someone with a hard-line mindset and zero tolerance for political differences.

The message from the Karaj Friday prayer leader was clearly received. Larijani's office announced that the trip was canceled and that the cleric could feel free to ask anyone of his choice to deliver the speech.