Iran officials ordered to stop feuding
2013-02-07 17:39
Dubai - Iran's supreme leader has ordered officials to
stop feuding, Iranian media reported on Thursday, days after a bitter battle
between two of the country's most powerful politicians erupted in public.
The rift between President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and
Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani has intensified in recent weeks despite
repeated calls from Khamenei for unity before Iran's next presidential election
in June.
"Officials need to take into account the national
interest and put their squabbles to one side," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said
during a speech to members of Iran's aerospace force, the Iranian student news
agency ISNA reported.
On Sunday, while trying to defend a cabinet minister
against impeachment, Ahmadinejad publicly accused Larijani's family of
attempting to use their position for financial gain.
The minister was targeted after he appointed former
Tehran prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi - an Ahmadinejad ally - as head of Iran's
social security office.
The appointment outraged MPs after a parliamentary report
accused Mortazavi of being linked to the deaths in custody of three protesters
in 2009.
On Monday Mortazavi was arrested and taken to prison for
two days before being charged and freed.
The timing suggested it was linked to Ahmadinejad's
accusations.
Reviled by reformers since the violent suppression of
mass protests after his disputed re-election in 2009, Ahmadinejad has become
increasingly isolated as Khamenei, the final arbiter on all matters in Iran,
has distanced himself from the populist but less powerful president.
As he prepares to step down at the end of his second term
in June, Ahmadinejad's conservative rivals have taken their cue to move in for
the kill and could target others among his allies.
