Ahmadinejad: We Warn That a Flood is Coming

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, while again criticizing the institutions under the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, described the proposals made in his letters to Ayatollah Khamenei as "last opportunities" for the Islamic Republic system. The former president of Iran emphasized in an interview with the magazine "Behar Javedaneh" that the leader and other officials of the Islamic Republic must "explain their actions to the people" and "convince them." In response to a question about the feasibility of the proposals mentioned in his letter to the Supreme Leader, Ahmadinejad stated: "All of them are operational. There is almost no way other than these. Keep it to yourselves. These are the last opportunities." He also accused his conservative opponents of intending to "suppress the principle of addressing" the Supreme Leader and making suggestions to him. According to the website of the Behar government, Ahmadinejad also stated in a speech: "We warn that a flood is coming; they say, 'bring his father out!' Will closing our mouths prevent the flood?" Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in two letters to the Supreme Leader written on February 19 and March 11 of last year, severely criticized the country's situation and called for structural reforms in some institutions, including the Guardian Council and the Judiciary, the clarification of parallel institutions, the establishment of a constitutional court, and the withdrawal of armed forces from political affairs and economic activities. Meanwhile, he announced in his interview that the proposals mentioned in the appendix of his letters to Ayatollah Khamenei are "very lengthy." He added: "Either they will publish it themselves, or if necessary for the people to be informed, it will be published." "I told Ayatollah Khamenei that the responsibility for the lies about the Judiciary rests with you." Ahmadinejad also stated in this interview: "I told the leadership that I have never felt the need to lie in my life... but there is a point where I have to speak in a way that some may interpret as a lie. Wherever I go and am asked about the Judiciary, I have to speak this way because I know what is happening. He laughed and said it was fine. I also laughed and said then the responsibility is yours since you are the head of the government!" In recent months, Ahmadinejad has repeatedly called for the dismissal of the head of the Judiciary and structural reforms in this institution, emphasizing that this institution has "deviated from the path of justice." The former president of Iran, in response to statements by some Islamic Republic officials that the right to sovereignty is "given by God," said that "most of the oppressors in history have used this card in some way." Ahmadinejad added: "They wanted to silence the mouths, telling the people that we are not your representatives. You were a tool for us to be recognized and to reach this point and sit on the throne. Otherwise, we are from there, and because we are from there, we are superior." The former president of Iran stated that the prophets and Shia Imams "never used this rhetoric" and that even the first Imam of the Shia explained the reasons for his actions to the people during war. Ayatollah Khamenei and his close associates believe in the theory of "discovery of the Vali-e-Faqih," according to which the Assembly of Experts "discovers" the Supreme Leader rather than electing him. Mohammad Taqi Misbah Yazdi and some other supporters of Ayatollah Khamenei have also repeatedly emphasized that in an Islamic government, "the people's vote has no religious or legal validity." The Supreme Leader and the institutions under his supervision supported Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his government until the issue of the dismissal of Heydar Moslehi, the Minister of Intelligence, but after the dismissal of the Minister of Intelligence and the famous incident of Ahmadinejad's "11-day house arrest," some of Ayatollah Khamenei's close associates attacked him. Ahmadinejad's conflict with the institutions under the Supreme Leader intensified last year with the trial of Hamid Bakai and the summons of Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei to court. Hamid Bakai, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison for "embezzlement" and "misappropriation of public funds," was arrested on March 11, 2018, to serve his sentence. Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, Ahmadinejad's chief of staff during his presidency, was also arrested two days after he burned Hamid Bakai's sentence in front of the British Embassy in Tehran.