Ahmadinejad: If the Conspiracy Against the Leadership Intensifies, I Will Come

The newspaper Etemad reported on the possibility of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's candidacy in the 2016 elections, stating that during a meeting with his followers in the Steadfast Front, he emphasized that if the 'conspiracy against the leadership intensifies, I will come.' He denied any disagreement with the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, stating, 'I and all my colleagues owe our existence to the leadership; if it weren't for his resistance against the 2009 sedition and support for the people's votes during the Friday prayer on June 29, the tenth government would never have been formed.' The newspaper Shargh reported on Mostafa Kaveh Kbian's request during a television program for 'lifting the house arrest' of Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, and Zahra Rahnavard, while simultaneously reporting that Mohammad Reza Toiserkani, the representative of the Supreme Leader in the Basij, stated, 'Efforts to lift the house arrest must be conducted secretly.' The newspaper Javan, close to the Revolutionary Guards, however, reported in its Sunday issue about the 'launching of a caravan to narrate the sedition' against the protesters of 2009. The newspaper Arman quoted Saeed Hajarian as saying, 'Cutting off rent has costs; Rouhani must endure.' Hajarian emphasized that in the 2013 elections, 'the reformists were not seeking to claim a share in support of Rouhani; improving the country's situation was important to them and still is.' He stated that after the elections, they continue to interact with the government in this regard and will not hesitate to offer help if requested, but this cooperation does not negate criticism. He noted that their relationship with the government is one of unity-critique, but they do not make their criticisms public. The newspaper Aftab Yazd highlighted Hassan Khomeini's speech in Khuzestan, quoting him as saying, 'Lifting political deprivation is the ideal of the revolution.' The newspaper Kayhan reported on the use of 'suicide drones' by the army during its maneuvers, describing these drones as 'the army's long arm in the battlefield.' The newspaper Javan emphasized in its headline that 'the Iranian family has halved,' writing that according to Mohammad Nazemi Ardekani, the head of the Civil Registration Organization, the Iranian family has decreased from six members in the 1980s to three members now. According to this newspaper, Nazemi Ardekani stated that 'the population of Iran has now reached 78 million, with 2 million Iranians living abroad,' and 'of this population, 6 million are Seyeds.' The newspapers Iran and Kaseb o Kar reported on 'the reasons for the increase in currency and gold prices,' particularly the increase in the dollar price to 3600 tomans. The newspaper Iran noted that 'at certain hours on Wednesday, the price of each US dollar reached 3600 tomans,' quoting Aziz Arman, a university professor, who stated, 'The main reason for the increase in currency and gold prices in the market is the decrease in oil prices. Currency buyers believe that the government is facing a currency shortage, which is why they withdrew their money from banks and moved it towards the currency and gold markets.' The newspaper Kaseb o Kar also reported on 'the beginning of dollar hoarding in hiding.' The newspaper Aftab Yazd dedicated its front page to the fortieth ceremony of Morteza Pashaei, describing the renewed presence of his fans as a 'practical response' to Youssef Abadari's speech criticizing the 'Pashaei phenomenon.' The newspaper 'Mardom Emruz,' which published its first issue on Saturday, January 6, dedicated its front page to this ceremony, reporting under the headline 'Endless Grief' that the widespread presence of 'youth' at Morteza Pashaei's fortieth ceremony indicates that this grief 'has no end for the youth.' Mohammad Ghouchani, the editor-in-chief of Mardom Emruz, also analyzed the existing gap between intellectuals and the public in Iran in an editorial titled 'Sociological Crisis,' stating, 'Friday, January 4, was the fortieth of Morteza Pashaei, and people, or parts of the public, despite the shocking words of Professor Dr. Youssef Abadari at Tehran University, had a prominent presence at the grave of this pop singer in Behesht Zahra.' The editorial writer of Mardom Emruz also noted, 'People, or parts of the public, did not heed the advice of their intellectuals, but the government (or parts of the government) paid close attention to Abadari's words and, by erecting scaffolding around Pashaei's grave, tried to control the crowd and prevent a social movement from turning into a political one.' The newspaper Shahrvand published a report about 'the return of 3500-year-old travelers to Iran,' stating that 'historical artifacts from Khorvin were returned to Iran after 50 years of absence. The return ceremony was held with security measures, even journalists were informed two hours before the arrival of the artifacts in Iran about the time of their arrival and the ceremony, but the historical artifacts from the Khorvin region of Savojbolagh finally arrived in Iran at 20:40 on Friday, January 4, accompanied by a team from the Cultural Heritage Organization.' The front page of the newspaper Shahrvand is also dedicated to 'Bam with a new identity,' and on the occasion of the anniversary of the Bam earthquake on January 5, 2003, it wrote: 'Now, one year has passed since that day, and Bam has not yet become Bam again. Bam, the city once filled with famous palm groves and export dates and happy people, has not been the same since that day. The 6.3 magnitude earthquake took 44,000 people with it that morning and left about 4,000 disabled. The collapse of the historic Bam Citadel, which everyone remembers, is also a fact; a citadel that has still not returned to its former state after eleven years and several reconstruction plans. After the initial purifications of the population that took place in Bam in the years following the earthquake, the population of this city has now reached about 107,000. These 107,000 people now spend their days and nights in the new identity of this city.' The representative of Khamenei in the Basij stated, 'Efforts to lift the house arrest must be conducted secretly.' The newspaper Shargh reported in its Sunday issue on the request of the Secretary General of the People's Democracy Party during the television program 'Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow' for 'lifting the house arrest' of Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, and Zahra Rahnavard, stating that Mostafa Kaveh Kbian said, 'I urge the Supreme Leader to consider lifting the house arrest during the week of unity.' At the same time, this newspaper reported that Mohammad Reza Toiserkani, the representative of the Supreme Leader in the Basij, stated, 'Efforts to lift the house arrest must be conducted secretly.' According to this newspaper, Mohammad Reza Toiserkani, the representative of Ali Khamenei in the Basij, told the Basij Press website: 'The efforts made by individuals like Mr. Motahari complicate the issue and do not help solve it; rather, if any effort is to be made in this matter, it should be secret and in accordance with reason and past experience, and with noise, hype, and victimization, which are irrational behaviors, no progress will be made.' Mohammad Reza Toiserkani also stated, 'The issue of lifting the house arrest has its own specific security mechanisms; the legal centers in the system decided to impose house arrest on these individuals, and according to the laws of the Islamic Republic and the same centers that decided to impose house arrest on these individuals, those centers also have the authority to lift the house arrest. Therefore, how long the house arrest continues depends on the judgment of that group that has the legal authority over this matter, and whenever they decide, since their approval must be confirmed by the Supreme Leader, it is also a commodity for the Iranian people, and there is no problem.' The representative of Ali Khamenei in the Basij described the house arrest of the candidates protesting the 2009 presidential election as 'in accordance with political and social reason,' stating, 'We do not want to deal with this issue through irrational confrontations and ignorant biases; we approach this matter with reason and logic, and just as the house arrest of these individuals today is in accordance with political reason and social logic, of course, in this regard, some should not present themselves as more caring than the system and the leadership.' The newspaper Shargh noted that 'previously, several principlist media had announced that the Supreme National Security Council was responsible for the house arrest,' writing that 'if according to these media, the house arrest was carried out by the order of the Supreme National Security Council, the head of that council during the tenth government was Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and its secretary was Saeed Jalili,' but now Hassan Rouhani is the head and Ali Shamkhani is the current secretary of the Supreme National Security Council. According to this newspaper, a new round of statements from supporters and opponents of the house arrest of Mousavi and Karroubi began after the publication of a note by 'Sobhe Sadegh,' the political office of the Revolutionary Guards, announcing that 'the house arrest was not due to the protests of 2009 but due to the change in the sedition movement and the open and reckless entry into the national security domain of the system, as determined by this council for the leaders of the sedition, and as long as the Supreme National Security Council remains firm on this determination, the house arrest is completely legal and remains in place.' Following this, 'Mehdi Taeb, the head of the Ammar Headquarters of the Revolutionary Guards, also stated in an interview with Mehr News Agency that the issue of rebellion of those he calls the 'leaders of the sedition' was discussed in the 'Supreme National Security Council,' and the head of the Judiciary, who is also the chief judge, was present at that session.' The newspaper Shargh quoted Sadegh Zibakalam regarding the 'increasing role of the Supreme National Security Council' in the house arrest of the candidates protesting the 2009 presidential election, stating, 'In the 36 years since the revolution, it has never been explicitly or implicitly stated that the Supreme National Security Council is under the Judiciary or that the Supreme National Security Council has the authority of a court or can issue indictments and convictions. Where in our constitution are such duties and powers provided for the Supreme National Security Council?' This newspaper also quoted Nemat Ahmad, a lawyer, regarding Ahmad Jannati's statements about 'the death sentence for the house-arrested individuals,' stating, 'If Mr. Jannati has raised such an issue, he cannot express it as the Secretary of the Guardian Council or the temporary Friday prayer leader of Tehran; rather, he can comment as a citizen or as Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati because his legal position does not grant him permission to address the house arrest case.' The launching of the 'Caravan of Sedition Narration' in Tehran and Qom was reported by the newspaper Javan, close to the Revolutionary Guards, in its January 6 issue, stating, 'The first caravan of sedition narration was launched to revisit the events of 2009 with the presence of eyewitnesses to that event throughout the city of Tehran.' According to this newspaper, in this caravan, several 'valued students' active in countering the 2009 protests, as well as 'Saeed Qasemi,' a former commander of the Revolutionary Guards, and 'Alireza Panahian,' a cleric close to the Supreme Leader, narrated the events of that time to the attendees at various locations of the 2009 protests in Qom and Tehran. The newspaper Javan reported that this caravan, which 'began its journey from Qom on Friday and reviewed some events related to the sedition in that city, also narrated the events of the day related to Ashura and December 7 in various locations in Tehran on Saturday morning.' The caravan visited 'Hosseiniyeh Honar on 16 Azar Street' among other locations, and 'then, with the presence at the graves of the unknown martyrs in the area of Maqdad, narrated the events of the protests of 2009 by several commanders and officials of that area.' The next destination of the caravan was the 117th Neynava base [a Basij location], which was one of the centers where the first clashes between protesters and Basij members occurred during the June 25, 2009, demonstrations, and several protesters were killed due to gunfire from the roof of this base. The newspaper Javan wrote that 'this base was seriously attacked by the seditionists during the sedition of 2009,' and on Friday, 'the narrators of this caravan explained the events of the attack on this resistance base and some efforts to arm the seditionists to the attendees.' The newspaper wrote: 'Lulagar Mosque, as one of the bases that the seditionists intended to occupy, was another destination of this caravan, where the issues related to the clashes around this mosque were narrated by the commander of this base for the attendees.' After that, the 'Caravan of Sedition Narration' visited the house of 'Amir Hosam Zolali,' whom the newspaper Javan referred to as 'a martyr of the sedition.' This caravan, which was modeled after 'Rahiyaan Noor,' was organized with the participation of a group of seminary students from Qom and in collaboration with the 'Shia and Ter' Institute, aiming to directly and interactively revisit the events of 2009 and its various aspects.