Former Minister of Information warns of possibility of "repetition of 2009 events"

Two former fundamentalist ministers have spoken of the “deviant current” trying to prevent the “value-based current” from achieving results and of the registrations for “sedition.” According to Haidar Moslehi, this time the enemy wants to provoke the low-income class.

On Monday (April 17), Mohammad Hossein Saffar Harandi, former Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, examined the formation, performance, and internal disputes of the Popular Front of the Islamic Revolutionary Forces known as "Jumna," and also discussed the entry of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his supporters into the electoral arena.

“Ahmadinejad’s indirect support for Rouhani”

Pointing out that “the deviationist current has become separate from the body of the fundamentalist current and has become a fringe of the opposing side,” Saffarherandi said, among other things: “Given that it cannot achieve results, the deviationist current wants the current that agrees with the values ​​to not achieve results. For this reason, it indirectly supports the opposing side.”

This member of the Expediency Discernment Council further added: "Some of them have explicitly said that if he is not confirmed, Rouhani's presence in the presidency will be certain. For this reason, their organized vote will not be thrown into the basket of the revolutionary forces." Since the rift between the Leader of the Islamic Republic and Ahmadinejad, the head of the ninth and tenth governments, and his close associates have been calling him a "deviant current."

The former Minister of Guidance, of course, does not believe that the electoral atmosphere will move towards “security or anti-security.” According to him, “Re-entering the electoral arena with the perspective of 2009 will cause irreparable damage. For this reason, internal and external enemies have tested the atmosphere and it is unlikely that they will want to carry out any conspiracy.”

Disqualification as “the end of Ahmadinejad”

Saffar Harandi has also predicted that Ahmadinejad will not expose himself to the Guardian Council. According to this fundamentalist figure, the head of the ninth and tenth governments “must save himself from this predicament,” because “the option of disqualification for this person means the end of his career.”

According to Saffar Harandi, if Ahmadinejad "does not reach this stage, there will be an opportunity for change and return in the future."

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has become a candidate for the presidential election, against the advice of Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic. Hamid Baghai, the executive deputy head of the 10th government, is also one of the most prominent candidates for the election among Ahmadinejad’s supporters. The spokesman for the Guardian Council had previously said that the Supreme Leader’s advice to Ahmadinejad could be considered a “legal matter.”

Support for the president

Mohammad Hossein Saffar Harandi also called Jumna's experience "successful" and assessed Ebrahim Raisi, one of the most prominent fundamentalist candidates for the presidential election, as "being introduced to public opinion," claiming: "Mr. Raisi has been well received and the votes of prominent revolutionary figures will support this person."

A day earlier, Saffar Harandi, Iran's former intelligence minister, spoke of "enemy" plans to influence electoral votes through "the trick of intimidation among the people, elites, and officials" to create "miscalculations."

“Moving the middle class downwards”

Unlike Saffar Harandi, who considers an "enemy conspiracy" unlikely "from the perspective of 2009," Haidar Moslehi said: "The enemy has a plan for the social fate of many of the candidates who have registered, and using the experience of the 2009 sedition, he wants to provoke the lower middle class this time, because in 2009, when he brought the upper middle class to the streets, they were afraid and ran away with a bang."

Supporters of the Leader of the Islamic Republic refer to the protest movement against the announced results of the 2009 elections as "sedition."

“The coming tribulation”

Haidar Moslehi, while referring to the "enemy's" "designing a long-term plan," called "intimidation by the military option" and the exploitation of "case-specific and current influence" among the elements of this plan, and added: "As long as the slogans of the revolution are alive in society, the enemy will continue to plan sedition, and sedition is inevitable."

The former Minister of Intelligence then referred to the "coming sedition" and said: "The sedition that is coming must happen during the presidency and guardianship of the Supreme Leader in order to prevent it."

Moslehi, while wishing Khamenei a long life, added: "But if this sedition were to happen later, then the next time he would not be able to contain it, like the Montazeri affair, which if it had happened after the Imam, no one could have dealt with it the way the Imam did."

“Accounted” registrations

The former Minister of Intelligence added in conclusion: "The registrations that have been made now, some of which were done for sedition, have been counted without any explanation. I am saying this based on the information I have. They put spies next to a person to take advantage of him. They did the same thing for Montazeri."

It seems that Moslehi’s reference to “inciting the lower middle class by using the experience of the 1988 sedition” is directed at Ahmadinejad and his supporters. The “Ahmadinejads” are looking for their best chance among the low-income segments of Iranian society. For this reason, some analysts believe that Hamid Baghaei’s promise to pay a subsidy of 250,000 tomans is intended to attract the votes of these people.

Source: DW