Iran International
Iran newspaper Saturday said ex-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was damaging Iran’s security by alleging a United States-Russian plot to invade Iran and Ukraine.
In a speech to supporters in Tehran Thursday, Ahmadinejad warned of a "danger of invasion and war" after a "dirty deal" between the two world powers. "I have accurate knowledge that Russia and the US have traded Iran and Ukraine,” he said. “The US will allow Russia to invade Ukraine…allowing the US to move onto Iran.”
"Who has allowed you to make secret deals behind the scenes over Iran?" he asked the world powers Washington and Moscow. "You shouldn't be under the illusion that all Iranians are simpletons like a number of officials that you have met” – possibly referring to President Ebrahim Raisi (Raeesi), recently in Moscow, or Iranian diplomats in the Vienna nuclear talks.
Iran newspaper, which is government-owned, posed a series of questions about the former president’s outburst: “Whose interests is Ahmadinejad trying to secure, and to whom is he offering the gift of instilling fear in the Iranian people? Where is Ahmadinejad getting his ‘accurate information’ from?”
The newspaper was in no doubt that the former president’s claim was “clearly an act against national security.” And “more importantly, it should be clarified who has instilled such false and contrived information in him?"
‘Satan’s partner’
Ahmadinejad, who left office in 2013 and was not cleared to run in the 2017 and 2021 presidential elections, has become a strident critic of foreign policy, with comments laced with allegations of conspiracies.
Ali-Akbar Javanfekr, Ahmadinejad's close associate and confidante, has called Russian President Vladimir Putin “a partner of the Great Satan,” meaning the US.
In his latest speech, Ahmadinejad argued that Russia had “always been against the Iranian people,” and has “always sold Iran,” referring to the expansion of the Russian empire at the expense of Iran’s Qajar dynasty during the early nineteenth century. There were clear parallels with Tehran’s current, relatively warm relations with Russia, Ahmadinejad argued: "Now some people have come out of nowhere saying Russia has changed!"
Since June Ahmadinejad has also criticized Iran's 25-year cooperation agreement with China, which was officially launched during Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian's recent visit to Beijing. During his trip to Moscow last week, Raisi presented a draft of a strategic bilateral agreement to Putin.
While reformist Arman-e Melli newspaper suggested Ahmadinejad should find a better way to "be seen and to influence the government and the society," Iran newspaper said it was "too simplistic" to see Ahmadinejad's remarks as a way just to attract attention.
Raisi responded to a question in a televised interview Tuesday night about giving big jobs to his and his ministers' relatives and friends, by saying that all appointments in his government are based on merit and insisted that no one can name even five individuals in his government who have been appointed to a post based on their family ties.
Raisi said if anyone knew of five cases, they should name the individuals, and he would launch an investigation into the matter. Earlier, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had also told the government to look into the matter and eliminate possible doubts in the government's integrity.
During the past two days, first moderate website Rouydad24 named and published the pictures of two dozen officialswho are either Raisi’s and his wife's relatives or are the relatives of some other top officials in the government. Later, Aftab News website also quoted social media users who had named far more than five such cases. The website, however, politely observed that Raisi may have been misinformed by his aides about nepotism in his government.
Among those named by Rouydad24, there are a few relatives of Raisi and his wife including Meysam Nili, a brother of Raisi's son-in-law Meqdad Nili, who has been appointed as an adviser to Culture Minister. He also has a second job as an adviser to the chairman of the Islamic Propagation Organization. Meanwhile, a cousin Raisi’s wife Zeynab Kadkhoda has been appointed as the dean of the faculty of Dentistry at the University of Tehran.
Mohammad Mehdi Ahmadi, the son-in-law of Mohsen Rezaei the vice president for economic affairs was first appointed as the governor of Bank Saderat, but stepped down quickly as soon his family connection to Rezaei was disclosed on social media. However, after a few weeks, Ahmadi was appointed as the governor of Bank Shahr affiliated with the Municipality of Tehran.
Mohammad Mehdi Rahimi, a close relative of former Majles Speaker Gholam Ali Haddad Adel, who is himself a relative of Khamenei, has been appointed as the director general of public relations at Raisi's office. In another appointment, Elham Akbari, the wife of influential lawmaker Ahmad Naderi has been appointed as an adviser to Culture Minister.
In similar developments, Sajjad Safar Harandi the son of Expediency Council member Mohammad Hossein Saffar Harandi has been appointed as the new manager of the Islamic Art and Culture Center, Hossein Amerian, the son of another influential hardliner Lawmaker Ms. Laleh Eftekhari has been appointed as the chairman of the pension fund of Iran's Steel Industries, and Davoud Azizi, a brother of lawmaker Mohammad Azizi who has studied nursing, has been appointed as the chairman of the Islamic Republic's Tennis Federation.
On the other hand, Health Minister Bahram Einollahi has appointed his son-in-law Shahed Fadaifar as his adviser at the ministry, and Mohammad Mohammadian, an official at Khamenei's office has helped his son-in-law Mehdi Eslampanah to rise to the position of the chairman of National Standards Organization.
Several others have also been named by the two websites. However, Aftab News claimed that Raisi should not have strictly denied the possibility of nepotism. He should have known that even one example of nepotism can tarnish his integrity. Raisi was so certain about his claim that he called those who talk about nepotism in his government as "accomplices of the enemy."
The Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA) quoted Wahab Azizi, a conservative activist and leader of Jahadgaran Party which supported Raisi in the presidential election as saying that that Raisi and his aides are distributing power through these appointments in a way as if “they have conquered a foreign country.”