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Source: Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center
August 8, 2010
Guardians Council chairman Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati provoked a controversy last week after accusing the reformist opposition leaders of receiving one billion dollars from the US to push forward the plan of toppling the Iranian regime.
Speaking at a religious ceremony in the city of Qom marking the birthday of the Vanished Imam, Jannati claimed that a document he had received showed that the Americans had transferred the funds to the opposition leaders through the Saudis, saying they acted in the capacity of US agents in the region. The top cleric also claimed that Saudi Arabia promised to pay the opposition leaders another 50 billion dollars if they succeed in toppling the regime (ILNA, July 27).
Jannati’s statements provoked angry reactions from the reformist opposition. In a strong-worded letter sent by Mehdi Karoubi to Jannati, the opposition leader accused the Guardians Council chairman of exploiting his power to spread incitement and make baseless allegations. Karoubi also blamed Jannati for forging the presidential election results and brutally suppressing the public protest which followed. In his letter, Karoubi says that if the opposition leaders are the “heads of incitement”, as alleged by Jannati, then Jannati himself has had a hand in silencing the voice of the Iranian people and supporting those responsible for their violent suppression. Karoubi notes that he intends to file a complaint against Jannati to the judiciary for spreading lies and false claims. He calls on Jannati to present the evidence allegedly confirming his statements; otherwise he will use all means available to expose his lies in public. Karoubi concludes his letter by calling on Jannati to learn the lesson from Iranian history, mentioning that after Khomeini’s botched uprising attempt in 1963, the Shah’s regime spread lies against him, claiming that he had received a large sum of money from the then Egyptian president Gamal Abdol Nasser through one of his agents. Jannati must beg God for forgiveness and the Iranian people for mercy (Jaras, July 29).
The reformist Islamic Participation Front also released a harsh response to the statement made by the Guardians Council chairman. In a special memorandum of opinion, the front accused Jannati of spreading lies, demanding that the judiciary investigate his allegations and announce the punishment awaiting him if it turned out they were false. According to the front, Jannati would not have dared making such claims had he not been protected by the “ironclad immunity” (Jaras, July 30).
Asr-e Iran, a website affiliated with the pragmatic conservative camp, also criticized Jannati’s statements. If the claims are true, the website says, then it is an act of betrayal against the country and the nation, and the judiciary must investigate the issue. If those are false allegations, however, then it is a serious issue which creates unnecessary tension in the country and requires that legal action be taken against him (Asr-e Iran, July 29). It came as no surprise, however, that the conservative daily Keyhan came to Jannati’s defense, accusing the opposition leaders of collaboration with foreign intelligence services and receiving financial assistance from the West in order to act against the regime (Keyhan, July 31).
[...] Iranian Labor News Agency reported that during a press conference Moslehi announced that the accusations made by firebrand Mullah Janati about the financial assistance of foreign elements to the opposition leaders is not only true but [...]