Iran's Ahmadinejad dismisses controversial VP

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad finally gave in to an order from the country's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and dismissed his top deputy after remaining defiant for five days.

The official IRNA news agency quoted Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi, a top Ahmadinejad aide, as saying that Esfandiar Rahim Mashai is no longer the first vice president.

The aide said that following the public statement of supreme leader Khamenei's order to dismiss the president's choice, "Mashai doesn't consider himself first vice president," Hashemi told IRNA.

Mashai stirred controversy among hardliners by once saying Iranians were friends to the Israelis. Ahmadinejad resisted pressure to dismiss him for weeks.

Khamenei's orders

Earlier, leading Iranian hardline cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami urged Ahmadinejad to sack his controversial first vice president, saying this was the wish of Supreme Leader Khamenei.

Khatami also said there had been plots in the Islamic state to weaken Khamenei after the disputed elections and the last week's appointment by Ahmadinejad of Mashaie as his first deputy, which sparked a chorus of opposition from conservatives in Iran.

"We support the president...but we never said that he has no flaws," Khatami told worshippers in his Friday prayer sermon which was broadcast live on state radio.

"We wish it had never gone this far so that the leader (Khamenei) comments on it. We conscientiously told you (before) to revise the appointment of first vice president," he added.

Khatami urged Ahmadinejad to "obey (the leader) in the quickest time."

Iran's main political arbitration body, the Expediency Council, too joined the groundswell of opinion against Mashaie, calling on Ahmadinejad Friday not to cause discord in his administration by persisting with his appointment.

"We ask Mr. Ahmadinejad ... to avoid using individuals about whom the elite, people and caring officials are sensitive and those who cause a rift in integrity of the government," the clerical body, led by former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, was quoted as saying by state television website.

A group of students meanwhile held a demonstration on Friday in Tehran to make a similar call.

"Obey the leadership! This is the nation's slogan," chanted the students, the ISNA news agency reported, as they asked Ahmadinejad for the "removal of Mashaie."

We know of some insulting private meetings. We know about the plots against the leader but you should know that you will not be able to stand against the people

Ahmed Khatami, Iranian cleric

Plots

Khatami also spoke of alleged behind the scenes meetings to topple the leadership of Khamenei.

"We know of some insulting private meetings. We know about the plots against the leader but you (who hold these meetings) should know that you will not be able to stand against the people," Khatami added.

Rafsanjani, a former president and the head of the Assembly of Experts which in theory can dismiss the supreme leader, declared the Islamic republic in crisis last Friday and said there were doubts about the election result.

Rafsanjani's comments were a clear challenge to the authority of Khamenei, Iran's most powerful figure, who endorsed the re-election of hardline Ahmadinejad soon after the vote.

Obey the leadership! This is the nation's slogan

Iranian student protest slogan

No official confirmation

Several Iranian officials have in recent days said that Khamenei has expressed his opposition to the appointment of Rahim Mashaie, but this has not been officially confirmed.

Mashaie, whose daughter is married to Ahmadinejad's son, is an outspoken figure who last year earned the wrath of many, including Khamenei, for saying Iran was a "friend of the Israeli people."

A defiant Ahmadinejad has so far shown no sign of reversing his decision, despite a growing call to do so from hardline clerics, politicians, Islamist students and MPs, among them even his own supporters.

"I like Mashaie for 1,200 reasons. One of the biggest honors of my life and one of the biggest favors from God to me is knowing Mashaie," the president said on Wednesday.

Rafsanjani, a former president and the head of the Assembly of Experts which in theory can dismiss the supreme leader, declared the Islamic republic in crisis last Friday and said there were doubts about the election result.

Rafsanjani's comments were a clear challenge to the authority of Khamenei, Iran's most powerful figure, who endorsed the re-election of Ahmadinejad soon after the vote.