Rouhani: The Leader Said the President Should Be the Commander of the Economic War

Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, said on Wednesday, March 6, that in the "psychological and economic war" created by the "enemy," the Leader of the Islamic Republic has chosen him as the "commander" and ordered that "the other two branches should be alongside the government with all their power and within the framework of regulations." According to ISNA news agency, Rouhani, who was on a provincial trip to Gilan, stated in his speech in Lahijan: "Since May of this year, I have told the Supreme Leader both in a private meeting and in a meeting with senior officials that our current situation is one of the enemy's psychological war and economic war, and in a war situation, the country needs a commander." Rouhani added: "My suggestion was that I told the Supreme Leader that you, as the leader of the system and the revolution, should take command of this war, and all government branches and officials will serve you. We will continue the path as you guide us." He continued: "However, he replied that I accept that the situation is one of war and that this situation needs a commander, but the commander of this war must be the President; this was the Leader's emphasis, and he ordered that the other two branches should be alongside the government with all their power and within the framework of regulations." Rouhani added: "I announced my readiness in that meeting and said that the government and the President, as representatives of the Iranian people, will be present in this war." Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic Republic, has not yet specifically stated anything about Rouhani's "command" in the "war" he referred to, and it is unclear whether such an "order" has been communicated to the leaders of the other two branches. Khamenei had stated in May of this year that the U.S. is "waging an economic and cultural war" against Iran. Rouhani's remarks regarding the Leader's "order" for the legislative and judicial branches to be alongside the "commander" of the psychological and economic war, namely the head of the government, come at a time when news of a change in the head of the judiciary in Iran has recently emerged. The Leader of the Islamic Republic recently agreed to the request of Sadegh Larijani to resign early from the presidency of the judiciary, and it was later confirmed that Ebrahim Raisi, the custodian of the Astan Quds Razavi, would replace him in the judiciary. Ebrahim Raisi was a member of a committee in 1988 that decided on the mass execution of political prisoners. Rouhani's government has always been at odds with the judiciary over issues such as the filtering of social networks, to the extent that Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, the Attorney General, accused the Minister of Communications of violating the regulations of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace. In response to these complaints from judicial officials regarding Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, the Minister of Communications, Rouhani defended him last week, claiming that "the youth do not accept the court and the supervisory body; they go and do their work," stating that the Minister of Communications "does not pay attention to irrelevant orders" and that threats of lawsuits have no effect on his work. Tensions also exist between the government and the legislative branch over budgetary and financial issues, to the extent that Mohammad Baqer Nobakht, the head of the Planning and Budget Organization, recently wrote in a letter to the Speaker of Parliament that the government cannot implement the Parliament's decision regarding the increase of 400,000 tomans in the salaries of government employees and retirees. After that, and after Ali Larijani, the Speaker of Parliament, stated that Mr. Nobakht "was wrong to say such a thing," Mohammad Baqer Nobakht accepted the implementation of this decision. Meanwhile, Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Foreign Minister of Rouhani's government, also unexpectedly resigned in protest against the lack of coordination and the "bypassing" of the government by other institutions, but his resignation was not accepted. Rouhani: The U.S. Says Iran Should Go Back to 1976. According to IRNA news agency, in another part of his speech on Wednesday in Lahijan, Rouhani said: "Our disagreement with the U.S. is also that the U.S. says go back 40 years, but we say we will not go back." The President of Iran continued: "The U.S. says Iran today should become Iran of 1976 and early 1977, and we say we will continue the path that our nation started in Bahman 57, which means the path of freedom, independence, and democracy. So today, we are not in a disagreement with the U.S. that is not negotiable or reconcilable." Rouhani has repeatedly accused the United States of attempting to overthrow the Islamic Republic, but U.S. officials have emphasized that while they seek a change in the Islamic Republic's regional policies, they are not seeking regime change. Nevertheless, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei claimed last December that Iran has been able to overcome the U.S. project for regime change in Iran, titled "Hot Summer," but warned that everyone should be aware of the "deception" of the U.S.: "They may have drawn up plans for 1398 (2019)."