Ahmadinejad Ordered Arrests of Khatami and Others, Says Former Police Chief Ahmadinejad

Ismail Ahmadi Moghadam, the former head of the police force, stated that after the protest march on June 15, 2009, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had called for the arrest of Mohammad Khatami, the president of the seventh and eighth administrations. In an interview with the magazine 'Ramz Abour', republished on August 22 by Fars News Agency, Ahmadi Moghadam discussed Ahmadinejad's reaction to the June 15, 2009 protest against the presidential election results, saying: 'At six o'clock, we had a meeting with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. No one had arrived yet. He asked, 'What's the news?' I replied, 'The streets were like this.' He said, 'That's great. We shook the circle, and the extras and garbage came out. Deal with them and take them all away. Go arrest Khatami and the others and reduce the trouble from all of them.' The former police chief reacted to Ahmadinejad's remarks by saying, 'Man, what are you saying? You go give interviews and speeches saying weeds and garbage. Now everyone has poured into the streets, and there is a crisis, and you can't just wrap this up easily, and now you say just take them away and that's it?' The former police chief stated that Ahmadinejad did not believe in his rivals during the 2009 presidential election and considered himself 'the winner from the start.' However, as the election approached, Ahmadinejad realized that 'the wave was much stronger than that.' He emphasized that Mir Hossein Mousavi had more popularity than Khatami, meaning Khatami could have gathered all his supporters behind Mousavi, who had the power to make a dent in Ahmadinejad's faction, but Khatami did not have such power. Ahmadi Moghadam added that regarding Mousavi, everyone could bring all of Khatami's assets and even a bit more, but they started a verbal war claiming, 'Because you came, I left, sorry, and such things.' However, with the think tank that Hashemi, Khatami, Seyyed Hassan Khomeini, and Mr. Nategh Nouri had created, it was clear that they had been meeting in the Expediency Discernment Council for a long time and were cooking the soup! In fact, their strategic room was there. He further stated that after the protests began, Ali Larijani, the speaker of the parliament, also supported the annulment of the 2009 presidential election. Ahmadi Moghadam said, 'Mr. Tavakoli and Larijani, although Mr. Tavakoli did not express it, but Mr. Larijani had suspicious behaviors, for example, allowing them to go speak somewhere or what is wrong with gathering in Azadi Stadium? I do not want to say who said what; their argument was that nothing bad happened. If this election is annulled, Mousavi will be disqualified due to his instigation, and Ahmadinejad due to his misconduct, and whoever becomes president will be in the country's interest.' He added, 'Some of our friends who were not with that side thought it was a good opportunity to get rid of Ahmadinejad and the others together. The dispute among our friends in parliament with Mr. Larijani stems from this point, as Mr. Larijani had a position with both sides.' The former police chief of Iran regarding the possibility of unrest reoccurring in the presidential elections said: 'Suppose in 2017, Mr. Rouhani has become a candidate and Mr. Ahmadinejad has also entered the field. What do you imagine? It is highly likely that the same events will occur. Even if they do not happen, there is still a lot of tension.' During the protests against the results of the 2009 presidential election in Iran, Tehran and several other cities witnessed protests for months. In these protests, dozens were killed, and thousands were arrested. Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi, along with Zahra Rahnavard, Mousavi's wife, have been under house arrest since February 2011.