Hashemi: It is not necessary for me to be the Chairman at a critical moment

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, in an interview with Shargh newspaper regarding the election of the Chairman of the Assembly of Experts, emphasized that the work of the Assembly's leadership becomes critical when 'a new leader is to be elected,' stating: 'At a critical moment, it is not necessary for me to be the Chairman.' The open letter from 47 Republican senators warning the leaders of the Islamic Republic that 'any nuclear agreement with the U.S. government, without the approval of Congress, will not last after Obama's presidency,' has caught the attention of the newspaper Javan, close to the Revolutionary Guards, which headlined in its Tuesday issue: 'The world's distrust of America has increased with the senators' letter.' The newspaper Arman also featured a photo of Mohammad Javad Zarif and quoted him regarding the letter from the 47 senators, stating: 'The senators' letter is propaganda.' The newspaper Ebtekar reported that a group of music activists gathered on Tuesday evening in front of the House of Music to protest against the 'serial cancellation of concerts' and 'restrictions on some musicians.' Shargh newspaper reported that 'Ali Motahari, a member of parliament, who traveled to Shiraz to speak at the invitation of the Student Association of Culture and Politics at Shiraz University, was attacked by plainclothes forces upon his arrival in the city on Tuesday afternoon.' The newspapers Jahan San'at and Etemad reported that on Tuesday, by the order of Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Hossein Ashtari was appointed as the new commander of the police force. Jahan San'at reported that Ismail Ahmadi Moghadam, on Tuesday, at the end of his 9-year command of the police, stated, 'I give myself a score of 10 only because I have not failed in front of the people.' The newspaper Qanoon discussed the prohibition of 'women's presence in stadiums' in an interview with Saeed Moayedfar, quoting him: 'The presence of women reduces violence in stadiums.' Hashemi Rafsanjani, regarding the selection of the future leader: 'At a critical moment, it is not necessary for me to be the Chairman.' In an interview with Shargh newspaper, Hashemi Rafsanjani emphasized that the work of the Assembly becomes critical when 'a new leader is to be elected.' He stated: 'At a critical moment, it is not necessary for me to be the Chairman; it is enough to be a member of the Assembly. A person in the Assembly can speak and express their opinion, and if I want, I can be influential.' The extensive interview of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani with journalists from Shargh newspaper has taken up two pages of the Tuesday issue, and in another part of his remarks about the 'Leadership Council,' he said: 'Regarding the Leadership Council, I said that during Imam's time, according to the Constitution, he was the leader, and then Ayatollah Khamenei became the leader with the vote of the Assembly. There was no need to discuss the Leadership Council. But if it is to be discussed again, we must be prepared and clarify the characteristics. It requires more discussion on how to divide the work. Who should be the Chairman? What should be the scope of work? These are discussions that, if they occur, the Assembly will certainly address.' Hashemi Rafsanjani noted that after the death of Ayatollah Khomeini, 'we, who were part of the Assembly's leadership, had to organize the programs, believed that there should be a council, and considered a three-member council consisting of Ayatollah Khamenei, Ayatollah Meshkini, and Ayatollah Mousavi Ardebili.' Regarding how to select the second leader of the Islamic Republic, he said: 'The opinion of the Society of Teachers was on Ayatollah Golpayegani, and they proposed the individual. We had a serious discussion, and it took a lot of time in the meeting about whether it should be an individual or a council. This was in our hands, and we had to choose. The individual received 45 votes, and the council received 35 votes. Ayatollah Khamenei's opinion was for the council, and he also gave a good speech explaining that a council is necessary. But when we voted, it turned out this way. This is with the vote of the Assembly, and if it is felt that an individual does not have those qualities and is not ready, we can turn it into a council.' He emphasized that after the death of Ayatollah Khomeini, 'I was in favor of the council, and that opinion remains. Presumably, Ayatollah Khamenei's opinion is also the same. But since the Assembly has voted, this is the current situation. Later, we will have to see the conditions.' He stated, 'We will discuss again. If one day we have to elect a leader again, we will discuss whether it should be an individual or a council. Here, we have no problem.' Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who was the Vice Chairman of the Assembly for years and held the presidency of the Assembly until 2009 after the death of Ali Meshkini, regarding the possibility of his candidacy for the election of the new Chairman of the Assembly, told Shargh newspaper: 'The leadership is not different from others. The Chairman has some influence in organizing the program, giving or not giving time, but the others work hard as secretaries and vice-chairmen. I don't think it is like that. Of course, I say that if I feel my presence is necessary, I will not hesitate and I will come. So far, I have not made such a diagnosis.' He also said: 'I have no mental readiness to become the Chairman of the Assembly. I work enough in the Expediency Council, and what more is necessary? There are other scholars in the Assembly who work, and I am also a member. If necessary, I will be influential there, and if not, I will be a listener; this is my current opinion. Of course, there are some whom I do not consider suitable to be at the head of the Assembly. On the day of voting, it will be clear who wants to come, and I will decide then. In the previous term, I also decided in that session. That is, the night before the meeting, it was decided that someone else would be there, and in the morning when we went, I saw someone else had been nominated, so I also nominated myself.' Regarding the possibility of his rivals using the legal case against his son Mehdi Hashemi against him, he said: 'If they want to do it, they will do it anyway,' but 'I do not want to interfere. I have told the leadership and the head of the judiciary and everyone from the beginning. I do not know the judge and have never seen him. I told them that if Mehdi has committed a crime, my preference is that he sees his punishment in this world and not in the afterlife. Because the afterlife is very hard, and if he has not committed a crime, it is not appropriate for the Islamic Republic to accuse or convict a person who has no crime for political reasons. I must defend the Islamic Republic. That is my opinion.' He said that if a ruling is issued against his son Mehdi Hashemi, 'I will protest, I will not fight. If the judge reaches a ruling, I have no objection because it is law, and if the judge does not reach it and orders it, naturally anyone will protest.' The protest and gathering of Iranian music artists against the 'serial cancellation of concerts' was reported by the newspaper Ebtekar, stating that a group of music activists gathered on Tuesday evening in front of the House of Music to protest against the 'serial cancellation of concerts' and 'restrictions on some musicians.' According to this newspaper, Hamidreza Nourbakhsh, the CEO of the House of Music, stated during this gathering: 'Today we are experiencing calamities that have been unprecedented in the last 30 years. We never thought that with the beginning of the government of hope and prudence, musicians would be so despondent.' Hamidreza Nourbakhsh emphasized that 'the behavior has gone so far that they insult the music community.' He said: 'This has hurt our hearts; we are a family of 15,000 members, and no one has the right to insult us,' while 'we have been a service-oriented and constructive community, and whenever they want to revive the memory of the Islamic Revolution, they use nothing but music. So how can they insult this community so easily and say that music in any form is just entertainment?' According to the newspaper Ebtekar, the CEO of the House of Music also stated: 'Since the discussion of the closure of music in cultural centers was raised, we have pursued it and held meetings, and they only gave us empty promises. We realized that there is an intention to eliminate music from this city, but we will not allow that. Fortunately, Mr. Mokhtabad, who is in the city council, has declared a position, and we seriously ask him to follow up on this issue.' Hamidreza Nourbakhsh pointed out that after the closure of music education in cultural centers, 'the House of Music wrote a letter to the mayor of Tehran,' stating: 'We all know that the issue of arrests and detentions in music started from certain places, and first, they refrained from allowing female musicians on stage, which has no legal basis. How can it be that in a country, women have the right to learn music but not the right to perform? What justification is there for this double standard?' The CEO of the House of Music noted that preventing female musicians from performing 'initially related to two provinces, but now 12 provinces are preventing women from performing on stage.' He mentioned that 'recently we experienced two bitter incidents in Khorasan Razavi; one was that Harir Shariati was taken off the stage, and the second was that Alireza Ghorbani's concert was canceled; however, the peak of the tragedy was when they insulted the music.' Mohammad Sarir, the chairman of the board of the House of Music, also stated during this gathering: 'Recently, events have occurred that stem from a specific way of thinking and may continue. We must, as a civil institution, prevent this action.' According to the newspaper Ebtekar, Salar Aghili, Harir Shariati, and Alireza Ghorbani also mentioned how they were prevented from holding their concerts and performances during this gathering. The newspaper Ebtekar reported that Fardin Khalatbari also spoke during the gathering in front of the House of Music about the insult of one of the officials to Alireza Ghorbani, saying: 'They said we are entertainers; I would like to say today that if what Ghorbani does is entertainment, then being an entertainer is good, and I am also an entertainer. If today Alireza Ghorbani is insulted, it is actually an insult to me and my masters.' According to this newspaper, Hamidreza Nourbakhsh, the CEO of the House of Music, concluded this gathering by saying: 'We have no confrontation with the government at all, but our direct responsibility is the government, which is naturally our first refuge, so we ask them to defend us.' The newspaper Ebtekar mentioned Mustafa Kamal Portarab, Shahram Nazeri, Hassan Riahi, Davood Ganjei, Fereydoun Shahbazian, Hadi Montazeri, Hooshang Kamkar, Nasrin Nashti, Shahla Milani, Nasrollah Nashtpour, Ramin Sedighi, Babak Chaman Ara, and Dariush Pirnia as artists who attended the session. The attack on Ali Motahari in Shiraz was reported by Shargh newspaper in its Tuesday issue, stating that 'Ali Motahari, a member of parliament, who traveled to Shiraz at the invitation of the Student Association of Culture and Politics at Shiraz University to speak, was attacked by plainclothes forces upon his arrival in the city on Tuesday afternoon.' According to this newspaper, Ali Motahari, after arriving at Shiraz airport on Sunday, 'headed towards Shiraz University, but a number of motorcyclists, by appearing in Gol Sarakh Square, which is at the exit of the airport boulevard, prevented the vehicle carrying Motahari from moving and also broke the car windows.' Shargh noted that 'after this incident, Ali Motahari, who was beaten, was transferred to police station number 20 in Shiraz for safety,' and wrote: 'Ali Motahari did not agree to cancel his speech until 8 PM [Tuesday] and insisted on the necessity of delivering his speech as previously planned, while the motorcyclists were still present in front of the police station.' This newspaper quoted 'witnesses at the scene' as saying: 'Among the attackers on Ali Motahari, heavy motorcycles were also seen, and some of them wore masks.' Shargh also wrote: 'From the university organizing the event, it has been reported that the hall where the speech was to be held has been evacuated, and some have gathered at the university to chant against the Student Association of Culture and Politics at Shiraz University.' Ahmadinejad Moghadam: I give myself a score of 10 with leniency so that I do not fail.