Khatami-Khamenei rift widening?

By Kesava Menon

MANAMA (BAHRAIN), AUG 3. The Iranian President, Mr. Mohammed Khatami began his second and last term in office yesterday after the Supreme Religious Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a decree endorsing his election. The two most powerful men in Iran also simultaneously spelt out very different ideas about the country's priorities. More surprisingly, both appeared to acknowledge that their programmes could come into conflict and both of them indicated that they would each rally the forces and powers they respectively command.

Interpretations on the above lines are not palatable to the Iranian leadership. They often denounce write-ups and analyses that mention divisions within their ranks. Seldom before have the two leaders spoken even in veiled fashion of the possibility of conflict between them and rarely, if ever, have they alluded to the possibility that the forces they respectively command might be pitted against each other. While handing the decree to Mr. Khatami at a ceremony before a crowd of officials, Ayatollah Khamenei said, ``I confirm the people's verdict and appoint him as President''. But he went on to add, ``My endorsement of the people's vote is valid as long as he continues in the path of Islam and stands against arrogant enemies.''

The latter statement hardly looks like a pro forma one, especially in a context where some of the Ayatollah's staunchest supporters, who also happen to be the President's most vehement critics, have often accused Mr. Khatami and his supporters of having strayed from the religious path. This statement is amenable to interpretation as a veiled threat of possible dismissal somewhere down the line.

If that was a token of the Ayatollah's toughness, Mr. Khatami was also to display a remarkable streak of defiance. ``The President of the republic is certainly responsible to the Supreme Leader and the Parliament, but he is above all responsible to the people'', Mr. Khatami was to say. Some of the Ayatollah's staunchest supporters would take this statement of the President as bordering on the verge of apostasy. To them, all legitimate authority flows from God whose intentions are interpreted by the Wali Faqih (the Supreme Leader) and the people's wishes are to be given distinctly inferior treatment. In saying that the people's wishes will remain supreme, Mr. Khatami was virtually echoing the words of leading dissident clerics like the Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri.

Besides alluding to their different bases of support, the two leaders also indicated that they viewed their country's priorities in totally different, possibly conflicting manner. Ayatollah Khamenei clearly saw the country's worsening economic and social conditions as the priority that the President and his incoming cabinet must address. Political strife, he made clear, should not hinder the performance of this task. ``We are in a crucial phase where one must act quickly in order to resolve the important problems such as the economic crisis and above all unemployment. Everybody should refrain from stirring political tensions and thereby allow the Government to work.''

The admonition to all to quell political tensions can optimistically be interpreted as a sign of impartiality. But the import of the statement can perhaps more accurately be perceived when it is read in the context of constant criticism from the Khameni-led conservative camp that Mr. Khatami has neglected economic issues while pursuing totally unnecessary political goals. In recent weeks, conservatives have been drawing linkages between rampant financial and moral corruption.Mohammed Khatami

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Section  : International
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