Source:
August 1, 2010

Majles speaker Ali Larijani has once again slammed the government this week for allegedly violating the constitution and delaying the implementation of laws passed by the Majles. Larijani claimed that the government does not inform the Majles leadership about its decisions, thus preventing it from monitoring those decisions and making sure they are consistent with the laws passed by the Majles. He noted that such conduct was a violation of the constitution. Larijani also criticized the setbacks in the implementation of the subsidy policy reform, saying that the delays caused by the government constituted a violation of the reform law passed by the Majles. He called on the government to implement the reform as soon as possible (ISNA, July 24).

Larijani’s statements against the government are yet another step in the power struggles between the Majles and the government, which have only escalated in recent months. The president has recently accused the Majles of passing laws which contradict the constitution and the Islamic religious law; Larijani retaliated by accusing the government of interfering with the legislation process, and even threatened to expose to the public incidents where the government’s actions were illegal. Disagreements between the two authorities also arose over the budget proposal submitted by the government for the approval of the Majles and the planned subsidy policy reform. In addition, the Majles has recently rejected a draft law submitted by Ahmadinejad which would give the government greater control of Azad University, many of whose board members are affiliated with Ali-Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the chairman of the Assembly of Experts and one of the president’s main political opponents. The strong conflict which broke out between the government and the Majles on that issue forced Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to intervene and issue an instruction freezing any further resolutions about the university.

The escalating differences of opinion in the conservative camp have been the focus of political and media interest in Iran this week. Hojjatoleslam Abolhasan Navvab, the political secretary of the conservative Combatant Clergy Association, issued a warning about a potential rift in the conservative camp, calling on conservatives to return to their fundamental values, morals and justice, to prevent internal differences of opinion. Navvab noted that following the riots which broke out after the presidential election, the conservatives managed to silence their political opponents and currently face no opposition on the political scene. He said, however, that it is precisely because of the lack of political enemies that the threat of political division is all the more tangible (Mehr, July 24).

The conservative daily Resalat also addressed the internal differences of opinion in the conservative camp, calling on the conservative bloc to unite against the threats facing it. An editorial published by the daily last weekend says that the conservative bloc has reached a sensitive stage precisely because of the public’s faith in it. The effectiveness of the conservatives has triggered fear and concerns among the opponents of the Islamic regime both inside and outside of Iran: the reformist opposition and the West. Those two elements cooperate in an attempt to divide the conservative camp, to foment internal conflicts and differences of opinion among the conservatives, and to separate the three administrative authorities the conservatives control. The public expects the conservatives to unite around their common principles: Islam; protecting the revolution, the leader, and the path of Imam Khomeini; and acting in service of the regime so as not to give enemies any ammunition to use against Iran. The success of the conservatives, the article says, depends on their ability to unite around the rule of the religious jurisprudent and the leader (Resalat, July 22).