Khamenei's Warnings to the Government and Attempts to Deny Differences

While supporters of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic claim that there are serious disagreements between the eleventh government and Ali Khamenei in areas such as foreign policy, nuclear negotiations, cultural issues, resistant economy, and the state of universities, some prominent figures in the government deny this. Khamenei's hardline supporters accuse Hassan Rouhani and his government of following the model of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, speaking of the leader and his orders only in words while ignoring his demands in practice. Saeed Qasemi, a commander of Hezbollah, explicitly stated in a speech that Rouhani and his government 'although they constantly use the term Supreme Leader in their words, act against his image.' Qasemi also criticized the government's 'indifference' to what he called 'resistant economy,' telling Rouhani, 'As President, you should take a shovel in your hand so that everyone sees that the basis of the resistant economy should be agriculture.' He also criticized the cultural policies of the government, stating that cultural officials did not mention the 'maneuver' of Shiites in Karbala during Arbaeen, but the solo performance of 'a prostitute' became such an important issue that it turned into the main concern of the Ministry of Culture. Qasemi's statements are just one of many positions taken by hardline conservatives regarding the differences between the government and the Supreme Leader and criticism of Rouhani and his cabinet's 'pretense' of obeying the leader's orders. Ali Jannati, the Minister of Culture, whose ministry's performance is one of the points of contention among political rivals in the Islamic Republic, stated that 'certain groups are seeking to destroy, sabotage, lie, and distort facts.' He mentioned that these groups have formed organized and calculated centers for propaganda against this ministry and provide 'false information' to authorities, scholars, Friday prayer leaders, and members of parliament. Criticism of the Ministry of Culture's performance comes at a time when Jannati has repeatedly stated that the Supreme Leader has 'complete familiarity' with artistic issues and 'we operate in the fields of poetry and music based on his criteria.' However, it seems that this statement, which is more aligned with Hashemi Rafsanjani's intellectual proximity than with his father Ahmad Jannati, has attracted more attention from political opponents regarding the praise of Khamenei's cultural-artistic capabilities. Mostafa Pourmohammadi, the Minister of Justice and a prominent conservative figure in the cabinet, also rejected the notion of a 'deep gap' between the government and Ali Khamenei, stating that 'no one in the government intends to escape or ignore the leader's statements.' According to him, there may only be some different 'tactics' regarding the leader's views. Jannati and Pourmohammadi deny or downplay the differences between the government and the leader's office, while on Bahman 9, Khamenei's official website reacted to the publication of images of Mohammad Javad Zarif and John Kerry, the foreign ministers of Iran and the United States, walking together during nuclear negotiations in Geneva. This site published an image of this walk with the caption 'imaginary points' and parts of Khamenei's speech from the current year's Dey in Qom. Khamenei stated in this meeting, 'I am not against negotiating, but I believe we should entrust our hearts to real hopeful points, not imaginary points.' Shortly after, Hassan Rouhani's Instagram also published the same image, defending the nuclear negotiating team, stating, 'They may criticize the negotiating team and say they walked hastily, their coat was crooked, or their glasses were in a certain way. These are not valid points.' It seems that cabinet members prefer to ignore the indirect messages exchanged between the President and the Supreme Leader while denying the differences between them. Khamenei has repeatedly warned the eleventh government in various areas such as foreign policy, nuclear negotiations, universities, resistant economy, culture, and criticized the governments of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during Rouhani's presidency. In Mehr 92, just two months after the eleventh government came to power, Rouhani, who traveled to New York to attend the UN General Assembly, had a phone conversation with Barack Obama, and Zarif and Kerry also met. Ali Khamenei criticized this action by Rouhani and Zarif, stating that 'some of what happened during the New York trip was not appropriate in our opinion.' He also warned the government about negotiating with the West in late Aban of the same year, stating, 'We certainly do not interfere in the details of these negotiations; there are red lines, there are limits, and these limits must be observed; we have told the officials, and they are obliged to observe these limits.' Khamenei's important remarks regarding the government's diplomatic activities include his lack of optimism about negotiations despite some officials' insistence on negotiating with the United States over the nuclear issue, the necessity of 'paying attention to the internal forces of the country to solve problems,' and 'not looking to the hands of others' and 'entrusting oneself to real hopeful points and not imaginary points.' Khamenei, who has always kept an eye on the cultural sphere, has not spared the government in this regard either, implicitly warning cultural officials about 'joking' with cultural issues and 'indifference.' These warnings came after Rouhani stated in a speech that the government intends to reduce its interference in cultural affairs and leave the work to the owners of culture, as 'the owners of culture and thought do not need guidance patrols.' Khamenei warned Rouhani, 'All these various cultural activities taking place across the country, if we assume that governments want to carry them out, they cannot; it is the work of the people. However, this does not mean that if you see a movement in these popular activities that has social harm, you should not intervene and say I will not interfere; no, intervention is necessary here, guidance is needed, work must be done.' Khamenei also advised the officials not to allow universities to become a playground for political movements, stating, 'Accepting young people as a driving force for political changes is my statement... This is different from allowing universities to become a playground for political tendencies, some of which oppose the regime or its orientations. This must be closely monitored and prevented.' The necessity of 'seriously taking the resistant economy' and acting accordingly, prioritizing 'expert criticism' of Ahmadinejad's government over criticism in 'public pulpits,' advising the government to avoid 'creating margins' and not raising 'unnecessary' issues, and warning against sidelining and isolating the 'faithful' movement with the slogan of moderation have also been among Khamenei's recommendations to Rouhani and his cabinet. A look at the multiple warnings from the Supreme Leader to the President and his cabinet during Rouhani's short presidency shows that at least in some cases where the government received warnings, there are differences. However, it seems that the denial of these differences by some officials is directly related to Khamenei's diplomatic tone and his implicit warnings to the government, although it is not expected that Hassan Rouhani will adopt Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's approach if Khamenei's tone changes.