Ahmadinejad's
Divine Inspiration
By Omid Memarian
28 October, 2006
Inter Press Service
BERKELEY, California
- Amid a struggle between two major clerical factions for control
of Iran's influential Assembly of Experts, President Mahmud Ahmadinejad
is trying to shore up his conservative base by portraying himself as
a man with a direct link to God.
The president, who enjoys
close ties to the country's security services, has generally feeble
support among the clergy system in the Islamic Republic. He is a strong
supporter of Ayatollah
Mesbah Yazdi, one of the most radical clerics in Iran, who believes
in an "Islamic government" - where the ruler is chosen by
God, through representatives such as Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
- rather than the current Islamic Republic, where people vote for their
leaders according to Islamic laws.
The Assembly of Experts election
on December 15 is significant because it could shift the balance of
power between the pragmatic faction of conservatives led by former president
Hashemi Rafsanjani and the radical faction represented by Yazdi.
The 86-member assembly is
charged with electing and monitoring the supreme leader, who, according
to Iran's charter, has ultimate power over all other institutions and
individuals, including the authority to interpret the constitution.
Rafsanjani supports joining
the international community and opening up dialogue with the West, while
Yazdi is a symbol of hostility toward Western ideals and values. Since
Ahmadinejad came to office in August last year, his pursuit of a nuclear-power
program - repeatedly said to be for peaceful civilian purposes - and
harsh threats to "wipe Israel off the map" have isolated Iran
more than ever.
His latest round of speeches
emphasizing God and religion feed this defiance regarding Iran's nuclear
program, and also serve subtly to threaten civil society and political
reformists in the country, a tactic that is strongly supported by Yazdi.
The presence of Yazdi and his followers on the Assembly of Experts would
empower Ahmadinejad's wing more than ever, and give them greater influence
with Khamenei.
"I tell my friends most
of the time, don't worry about the nuclear issue, [because] they [Westerners]
are just bluffing," Ahmadinejad said at a recent ceremony, reported
by the Iran News website on October 15. "I tell them that the West
is disarmed toward us and doesn't know how to handle this issue.
"Believe me, we have
been successful in terms of legal and public opinion. I am speaking
from my own knowledge. Somebody asked me, 'People say you are connected?'
I said, 'Yes, I am.' 'Do you really have a connection? With whom?' and
I said I have a connection to God - if we stay faithful, God will show
us his miracle," Ahmadinejad said at a mosque in Tehran.
He also lashed out at President
George W Bush, saying the US president "also receives inspiration
but from Satan".
Ahmadinejad's speech came
shortly after talks with European Union diplomats failed to achieve
progress on halting Iran's uranium-enrichment program. On Thursday,
Russia said it opposed the latest draft proposal for sanctions being
circulated at the UN Security Council by the EU, in particular provisions
that would bar Russia's participation in building a nuclear reactor
at Bushehr in southwestern Iran.
While many Iranian analysts
have warned the conservative government not to overplay its hand and
to simplify the nuclear crisis in its negotiations with Western countries,
Ahmadinejad has assured supporters of the success of his nuclear policies.
"Now, they [Western
countries] are stuck in violent waters and don't know what to do with
us [on the nuclear issue]. We won't retreat even a millimeter,"
he said this week. "Because if we retreat a little bit, they would
say that we just retreated under the pressure. Secondly, if we do so,
they will say to the world that, finally, Iranians stopped their enrichment
activities. But didn't we stop all our activities in the previous era
[under president Mohammad Khatami]? And what did we achieve? I assure
you, with God's will, we have gone most of the way, and be sure that
they do not have the courage to attack us."
He also commented on the
deployment of the Nimitz-class nuclear aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower
to the Persian Gulf: "This is also one of those things. I say right
now that your minds should be at ease. Two aircraft carriers are coming,
so what? Now some in Iran are shouting that two carriers are coming
... Actually I believe the fact that they're coming shows that nothing
is going to happen. If they leave the area then that is dangerous -
that reveals that they have plans."
It is not the first time
that Ahmadinejad has claimed a direct connection to God. After addressing
the UN General Assembly in September 2005, he said that someone present
told him that a light surrounded him while he was delivering his speech.
He added that he had also sensed it.
"I felt that all of
a sudden the atmosphere changed there, and for 27-28 minutes all the
leaders did not blink," he asserted later at a meeting with one
of Iran's ranking ayatollahs, Javadi Amoli.
Ahmadinejad's claims created
a huge stir in Iran, with a transcript and video recording of his comments
published on a conservative website, Baztab.com, and later widely circulated
on a compact disc.
Hooshang Amirahmadi, a professor
at Rutgers State University in New Jersey and director of the university's
Center for Middle Eastern Studies, who has met personally with the Iranian
president, told Inter Press Service that he sensed renewed defiance
despite the mounting international pressure.
"I met Ahmadinejad twice,
when he came to deliver speeches to the General Assembly in 2005 and
2006. In our conversations, I felt his self-confidence has increased
dramatically over the last year since he came to office," he said.
"Last year, I told Ahmadinejad
that US-Iran relations are getting very dangerous, and I think this
danger has increased even more this year, and I am sorry you did nothing
to remove this danger as the leader of Iran," Amirahmadi said.
He said Ahmadinejad responded
that he disagreed, and added: "Last year we were facing the threat
of war. But now we have the threat of sanctions which, with God's will,
we can cope with and move toward peace. Last year, the threat of war
was looming, but now the real threat is just sanctions."
While his statements seem
designed to appeal to Iran's conservative religious base, critics of
the president's domestic and foreign policies would likely agree with
a famous Persian saying: "When you talk with God, you are a pure
person, but when God talks to you, you must be insane."
Omid Memarian is an Iranian
journalist and civil-society activist. He has won several awards, including
Human Rights Watch's highest honor in 2005, the Human Rights Defender
Award.
(Inter Press Service)
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