Even as hundreds of thousands gathered across Iran on Thursday to mark the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Republic, it's worth noting that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad isn't the religious fanatic he is portrayed as in the West. In fact, in a country where overt allegiance to fundamentalist Shiism and obedience to the ayatollahs is expected of senior state officials, Ahmadinejad and his supporters are increasing their independence from the theocrats in both domestic and foreign affairs. The root cause is a struggle within the government itself, as Ahmadinejad and his cronies undermine the increasingly unpopular religious establishment to gain a larger share of power. Even the anti-government protesters help the president when they chant "traitor [Supreme] Leader" and "death to Khamenei."
The president, his ministers, and staff no longer attend meetings of the Expediency Discernment Council appointed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to mediate between the branches of Iran's Islamic government. That council, headed by former presidential rival Mohsen Rezai (who reports to the office of the Supreme Leader), had served to oversee the president and his appointees. Hardline clerics and parliamentarians grumble that Ahmadinejad and his ministers regularly defy the Supreme Leader. But having validated last June's election in Ahmadinejad's favor, their reactions are limited to blocking certain executive actions like a nuclear deal with the West.
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In response, Ahmadinejad has publicly chastised his rivals in the government for "running to Qum for every instruction," adding that "administering the country should not be left to the [Supreme] Leader, the religious scholars, and other [clerics]." His chief of staff, and relative through marriage, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, echoes those views: "An Islamic government is not capable of running a vast and populous country like Iran. Running a country is like a horse race, but the problem is that [the clergy] are not horse racers." Mashaei further riled the mullahs by criticizing prophets like Noah and Moses as ineffective administrators akin to the contemporary clergymen who wield power in Iran.
In his efforts to undercut the religious basis of the clerics' political authority, Ahmadinejad has begun emphasizing "pragmatic values" in governance. When addressing an Iranian university in November, Mashaei took the attack on the mullahs' authority much further: "God does not unify humans"�[because] each person's [notion of] God varies from the God of others based on individual understanding." His words, it was quickly noted by aghast ayatollahs, are blasphemous under Islamic law and therefore punishable by death. Rebukes by Shiite leaders fell on deaf ears in the executive branch.
Realizing that antigovernment sentiments are fueled in part by years of behavioral restrictions, Minster of Science Kamran Daneshjou is encouraging attendees at funerals and memorial services to observe a moment of silence instead of reciting the first chapter of the Quran, as has been obligatory. Likewise, the government's cultural adviser, Javad Shamaghdari, is recommending that the hijab, or veil, not be mandatory"”much to the horror of mullahs and orthodox laymen. Powerful Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari even averred publicly in October that preserving the government "is more vital than performing daily prayers." Being denounced as "heretics" and "infidels" has not swayed the president and his bureaucratic and military cohorts from their increasingly secular politics.
Ahmadinejad's close ties to the ultraorthodox Ayatollah Mohammad Mesbah Yazdi also haven't dampened the president's drive to consolidate power by abjuring beliefs and practices central to the theocracy. Recently Ahmadinejad has even begun rephrasing his oft-repeated statements about the end of the world"”in strictly religious terms. In an interview with U.S. news media in September, he commented: "The [Mahdi, or 12th] imam will come with logic, with culture, with science"�The stories that have been disseminated around the world about extensive war, apocalyptic wars"�are false." So even Ahmadinejad's representation of a nonviolent apocalypse serves to distinguish members of the executive office from the mainstream mullahs in power.
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