Today’s New York Times reports that their may be a slight rift between Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
As you may know, Ahmadinejad was voted President over a year ago on a populist platform, vowing to redistribute wealth for the Iranian people, among other things. He has since caused alarm in the world by accelerating Iran’s nuclear program (in defiance of UN resolutions) calling for the destruction of Israel and perpetuating the denial of the Holocaust.
However, it is Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who is the true power in Iran. As much as the President may announce and declare, it is Khamenei and his counsel that dictate policy. And the general impression has been that Khamenei had endorsed Ahmadinejad’s action, simply by allowing Ahmadinejad to continue.
That may be coming to an end. As the New York Times reports, Ahmadinejad may be coming under pressure from the highest authorities in Iran to end its nuclear program, or at least modify its aggressiveness and be more flexible with the West. Two newspapers, one owned by Khamenei, have stated for the President to remove himself from all nuclear matters. It seems that strong business entities and diplomatic forces have appealed to the highest Iranian powers to stem Ahmadinejad from continuing what they feel are harmful actions to Iran.
What needs to be seen is whether this is a true shift in Iranian policy, or whether this is just a play by Ahmadinejad and Khamenei to appear to soften its stance to the West and buy more time to develop their nuclear weapons.
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