Iranian dissent, or just PR concerns?
posted at 5:00 pm on July 1, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
The Middle East Times reports today that an adviser to the leading cleric in Iran issued a statement that indirectly criticizes Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The rare public rebuke concerns the Iranian president’s proclivity for incendiary comments regarding the Iranian nuclear program, such as proclaiming Iran as the “most powerful nation in the world”. The message from Ayatollah Ali Khameini — shut the heck up:
A top advisor to Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned on Tuesday against “provocative” remarks on Tehran’s nuclear crisis which tend to be associated with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
“The officials and the political experts need to avoid provocative and illogical declarations and slogans,” Ali Akbar Velayati told the hardline Jomhouri Eslami newspaper in an interview. …
“The 5+1 group take into consideration every word of those declarations and slogans and we have to give more careful statements,” Velayati was quoted as saying.
“A certain declaration could cause us problems, we need to be careful not to make these declarations,” added Velayati, the longest-serving foreign minister in the history of the Islamic republic.
Does this qualify as a fault line in Iranian politics? That seems highly unlikely, as Ahmadinejad only has such power as Khameini lends him. If anything, this merely serves as a reminder to Ahmadinejad and others not to go out of their way to provoke harsher treatment from the West, which has grown more united in the face of Ahmadinejad’s strange pronouncements.
The ruling mullahs want to stall for time while holding off the most damaging of sanctions or military action. They need the West split in order to accomplish that, and talk of wiping Israel off the map and defeating the West in war doesn’t help. The public rebule also serves to encourage more talk from the West in thinking that they can work around the hardliners in the Ahmadinejad front.
In other words, this is just a PR move for the benefit of Western diplomats. A public rebuke will increase hope for a peaceful resolution of the Iranian uranium-enrichment efforts that the mullahs want just as badly as Ahmadinejad, and for the same reasons. (via Memeorandum)
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Translation: Shut the heck up until we actually have the bomb dummy.
TheBigOldDog on July 1, 2008 at 5:08 PM
A+ in reading comprehension.
right2bright on July 1, 2008 at 5:12 PM
good ayatollah, bad ayatollah, same goal.
JiangxiDad on July 1, 2008 at 5:19 PM
The first rule of Nuke Club is : Don’t talk like a psychopath.
harrison on July 1, 2008 at 5:20 PM
Good analysis Ed. We’re easily led around if they lie. But the Left needs cover to support Iran. Ahmadinejad is far too candid.
Beagle on July 1, 2008 at 5:28 PM
You mean, the first rule of trying to get into the Nuke Club is : Don’t talk like a psychopath.
Once you’re in you can go all Kim Jong Il if you want. In fact, it pays big.
TheBigOldDog on July 1, 2008 at 5:32 PM
Wait until you have the weapons of mass destruction before you threaten to destroy a whole race of people. Pretending to have WMDs without having or using them can get you in trouble. Ask Saddam Hussein. Remember him?
volsense on July 1, 2008 at 5:42 PM
Uh, Iran has always been known for its extremely factional politics. Given Ahmadinejad’s policy failures, it’s not exactly surprising that he’s criticized.
NPP on July 1, 2008 at 6:11 PM
Uh, ya. The papers are full of daily criticism of him by other political and religious leaders inside Iran. Happens every day…/sarc off
TheBigOldDog on July 1, 2008 at 6:28 PM
I’d ask Saddam but his DEAD, and this is precisely why they are telling “I’m a crazy dinner-jacket” to STFU! They (Iran) don’t want to be next to be taken out at least until they have a nuke which is why the US or Israel needs to take out the mad mullahs now and not later!
Liberty or Death on July 1, 2008 at 6:41 PM
If the mullahs are tired of Dinner-Jacket’s lunatic ravings, why not remove him?
It’s good-cop bad-cop.
misterpeasea on July 1, 2008 at 9:07 PM
Or paranoid-delusional-cop bat-sh!t-crazy-cop. Whatever.
misterpeasea on July 1, 2008 at 9:08 PM
“Does this qualify as a fault line in Iranian politics? That seems highly unlikely, as Ahmadinejad only has such power as Khameini lends him. ”
Great point and one often lost on most in the West. For example: Ahmadinejad is not Commander in Chief of the military. He could not order a missile attack on Israel if he wanted to. The military falls under Khameini and he must issue such an order. Khameini even has the power to remove Ahmadinejad from office by decree. Ahmadinejad is a few nuggets short of a Happy Meal but he isn’t the only lunatic in that insane asylum they call Iran.
crosspatch on July 1, 2008 at 9:11 PM
One wonders how much Iranian media you actually read, if any. Criticism of Ahmadinejad happens all the time, actually, and almost everyday in reformist papers like Etemad-e Melli. Iranian politics is not as unitary as is commonly (mis)portrayed in the west.
NPP on July 1, 2008 at 10:11 PM