Iran's Rafsanjani is a flip-flopper

Posted By Michael H. Cognato Wednesday, January 10, 2007 - 2:32 PM Share

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It seems that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is bringing Iranians together — just not for the reasons he would like. Former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a pragmatic conservative, aligned himself with reformers to win election to the nominally powerful Assembly of Experts last month over Ahmadinejad allies. Niusha Boghrati reports for worldpress.org that this alliance may be more than temporary. Ironically, Boghrati observes, political expediency has led Rafsanjani to repudiate some of his own policies from his time in office and join forces with one of his most persistent critics, former president Mohammad Khatami.

Complaints about Ahmadinejad from the reformist camp aren't new; Khatami supporters have taken exception to Ahmadinejad's nuclear adventures, and stricter social and education policies have provoked angry reactions from students, at least those who aren't trying to leave the country. But opposition to Iran's president from the right wing is a relatively new phenomenon.

Conservatives, many of them with extensive business interests, could be turning against Ahmadinejad because they fear the consequences of economic sanctions. They might object to his belligerent approach to the U.N. and the rest of the international community. Some may even genuinely abhor nuclear weapons as "un-Islamic." More likely, however, what we are seeing is just political opportunism, as old hands on the right see a chance to outmaneuver a brash newcomer who is threatening to upstage them.

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