Iran: Heart of the crisis, Wilayat Al-Faqih
The crisis in the Iranian Republic still lingers. The calm and tranquility in the streets do not necessarily mean that the political situation is sound, nor does it mean that Ahmadinejad and his supporters won the elections.
Following the closure of the ballot boxes on 12 June, Iran was placed in front of a crisis. The tremendous and dangerous changes in the Islamic Republic in Iran were because the roots of the crisis were in fact very deep and went beyond electing president of the Republic to unveil the true purpose of the conflict between the leaders inside the Republic.
The crisis continued to shoot up because none of the two disagreeing parties in Iran -Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei with followers of Ahmadinejad on one hand and the reformists led by Mir Hussein Mousavi on the other- had the intention to back away from their stances. Losing ground would be considered a total failure resulting in a coup.
Khamenei, who is supposedly the higher authority of all Muslims in Iran, lost his role when he took sides in the elections and was prejudiced to Ahmadinejad and his followers. He interfered in the elections believing in his ability to influence the opinion of Iranians being their absolute authority.
On the other hand, if the reformists represented by Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi give away their positions, that would mean slaughtering the basic purpose of the battle to abolish the state’s absolute supreme authority.
The demand to eradicate the higher authority was not something new, furthermore was not presented bluntly by the demonstrators. Ayatollah Hussein Ali Montaziri who was Imam Khumeinei’s partner in developing this theory, called many years ago to cancel it and introduce the state of supervision instead of irrevocable leadership.
The absolute jurisdiction of Wilayat Al-Faqih was transformed into a curtain to hide the domination of the Revolutionary Guard on the political and economic authorities in Iran, which frightened many.
Another fear the Iranians face is the emergence of a new group led by Mosbah Yazdi, aiming to abolish the Republican regime and endorsing an Emirate similar to the one in Taliban Afghanistan. Ahmadinejad was believed to be a supporter.
Everyone in Iran can see that the situation bears no delay. The problem is in finding a solution. Hashemi Rafsanjani who is still a powerful figure in Iranian politics as he heads two of the regime”s most powerful bodies: Expediency Council (which adjudicates disputes over legislation) and the Assembly of Experts (which appoints, and can theoretically replace, the Supreme Leader) returned from the shadows to run the game and find a solution for the crisis.
In the city of Qom, the Ahvazi authorities were also trying to find a solution mainly because the Extremist Conservatives did not agree on Ahmadinejad’s policy. They translated their condemnation by not participating in the ceremony to congratulate Ahmadinejad.
One of the solutions put forward is to bring back the post of prime ministry with more powers to control Nejad’s lack of restrictions, implement wide range of economic reforms and control the dialogue with Washington outside the provocative language adopted by Ahmadinejad.
Another solution is to allow the Council of Experts, led by Rafsanjani, to resume its constitutional authorities by law and control the absolute jurisdictions of the Supreme leader. This would bring Rafsanjani back to power side by side with the Supreme leader.
If solutions were reached to, Mousavi’s destiny is open to discussion on whether he would accept them after he became a popular leader. Would he accept the solutions and give up his demand to cancel the presidential elections, and what would be the fate of his mass supporters who demonstrated, fell dead and wounded? Would they accept the outcome or would they resort to violence under the banner of ‘despair for change’?
The demonstration, which spilled millions of Iranians to the Azadi square, reflected the Iranians’ rejection to steel their free decisions and choices. The demonstrations brought together all kinds of segments from the Iranian society; the path of the demonstration was no coincidence.
The Republicans led by Mousavi believed in what Ayatollah Hussein Montaziri once said, that Iran gained independence through the revolution but the Iranians did not gain the liberty which forms an essential part of the slogan of the revolution.
Then, how and when will the Iranians get hold of their freedom?