NCRI – A leading mullah in Iran has said the words of some presidential candidates ‘stink’ because they are constantly criticizing the regime.
Ahmad Khatami – a member of the Guardian Council which selects candidates – said all those standing for election ‘should believe in and be committed to’ the Supreme Leader.
The Guardian Council is effectively appointed by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and all election candidates should be in line with his thinking.
But Khatami said: “Our feeling since the beginning of the presidential campaign was that some of the candidates are expressing frustration over the past ten years.
“The words of some of these candidates stink as they are presenting a black picture of those years. Even if they gain the votes, they will face shame.”
Speaking in Friday prayer sermon, Khatami said that presenting a black picture of Iran was ‘against religion and logic’, and he claimed that 34 years after the Islamic revolution, it was ‘unjust’ to claim nothing had been achieved.”
His comments come amid mounting factional feuding within the regime’s elite, the secretary of the regime’s Expediency Council and former Revolutionary Guards commander Mohsen Rezaii saying Iran was nation ‘that possessed long-range missiles, but had no chicken to eat’.
He added recently: “Corruption, bribery and segregation has increased in different provinces and the value of the national currency has collapsed.
“Our rockets can go several thousand kilometers, but we are unable to provide chicken for the people. We face problems in providing for people’s basic necessities.
“Instead of hiding the realities, we must let people see them. We have to reduce the lack of balance between security and defense spending and people’s lives and economy.”