Interior Ministry Declares Activities of 'Yekta' Front Illegal

Hosseini Moqimi, the political deputy of Iran's Interior Minister, declared on Tuesday, June 16, that the political organization known as 'Yekta', formed by senior officials of the previous Iranian government, is illegal. The name Yekta stands for 'Front of Efficient and Transformative Companions of Islamic Iran', and according to IRNA news agency, the declaration of its illegality comes just one day after its establishment was announced. This organization was announced during a gathering at the Sarcheh Cultural Complex in Tehran on Monday. According to IRNA, Hosseini Moqimi stated that 'the political organization named Yekta has not requested any permit from the Party Commission, thus any of their activities are against the law and they must be held accountable.' In response to the question of 'this political group has stated it operates as a front and does not need a permit,' he said: 'Any political activity by individuals in the form of a party, group, or organization, under any title or name, must be permitted; therefore, the activities carried out under the name Yekta these days are illegal and they must be accountable.' The Tehran-based newspaper Shargh reported on June 8 that Abdolreza Davari, a close associate of the tenth government president, considered the establishment of the 'Front of Efficient and Transformative Companions of Islamic Iran' (Yekta) an initiative from the ministers and vice president of the previous government, stating that no consultation or opinion gathering from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was conducted for the establishment of this organization. According to Davari, this party consists of 17 members from the tenth government, with Mustafa Mohammad Najjar, the interior minister of Ahmadinejad's government, as its president. Abdolreza Davari mentioned several members of the Yekta party, including Fereydoun Abbasi, Masoud Zaribafan, Hamidreza Hajibabaei, Kamran Daneshjoo, Kamran Bagheri Lankarani, and Mohammad Hassan Tarighat Monfared. Meanwhile, Mohammad Hosseini, the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance in Ahmadinejad's government and a founding member of the Yekta front, denied any 'organizational connection' between the members of this front and the former president of Iran. The news of the formation of the Yekta front comes just months before the 11th parliamentary elections and coincides with the arrest and sentencing of several senior officials from Ahmadinejad's government, such as Mohammad Reza Rahimi and Hamid Baqai. Political analyst Mehdi Mahdavi Azad explained in an interview with Radio Farda that the Yekta front is positioned between the Steadfast Front on the right and the Martyrs Front on the left. In this context, the Minister of Culture in the tenth government stated that the members of 'Yekta' do not have an organizational connection with Ahmadinejad.