Rob Corbidge: In Tehran, leadership rivals jockey for position

THE ransacking of Britain’s diplomatic compounds in Tehran says as much about the deteriorating relations between president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the country’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei as it does about Iran’s attitude to Britain.

Although a radical, Ahmadinejad has been keen for better ties with the west, knowing this is popular with voters. In contrast, his hardline rivals who pledge allegiance to Khamenei often relish confrontation with the west, both on ideological grounds and because they hope it will deflect attention for Iran’s home-grown troubles.

The attack was led by members of the radical Islamic Basij militia, and senior hardline rivals of Ahmadinejad publicly endorsed it, comments that clashed with an apology by his foreign ministry, which remains loyal to the president.

High-level discord in Iran has never been so public but has little to do with its nuclear row with the west or with the pro-reform opposition, which rejected Ahmadinejad’s 2009 re-election as rigged.

The spotlight-loving Ahmadinejad has come under heavy criticism from hardline conservatives and powerful clerics for unorthodox economic policies seen as inflationary, including spending petrodollars.

Ahmadinejad has angered elites further over his efforts to wrest more control of security and foreign affairs from the clerical establishment under Khamenei.

The president is also more liberal than the hardliners on the role of women and the interpretation of Islamic law.

Reflecting the level of internal conflict, Khameni recently raised the prospect in a speech that Iran’s presidency could be abolished wholesale.

• Rob Corbidge is foreign editor of The Scotsman