Regime's internal feuding after election farce reaching new heights

Addressing the Friday prayers congregation in Tehran today, mullah Ahmad Jannati, Head of the Guardians Council and a confidant of the mullahs' leader Khamenei, laid bare the ruling factionÕs extreme anxiety over the escalation of the regime's internal feuding after the resounding defeat of the candidate endorsed by Khamenei.

Speaking of the need to "maintain unity by all tendencies," Jannati warned that "excluding others would give rise to splits, enmity and vengeance." Rejecting any possibility of change within the regime, Jannati warned Khatami that "This country is the country of the Velayat-e Faqih (supreme jurist-consult) who enjoys the same authority as that of the Prophet of Islam... The constitution is based on the Velayat-e Motlaqeh Faqih (absolute rule of the jurist-consult) who oversees the three forces, confirms the president and approves the elections."

Jannati added that "All the forces and the power of the country rests with the Vali-e Faqih," that "his views must be realized" and that "the voters" demands ought to be respected merely within the framework of Islamic guidelines and the interests of the revolution."

Jannati implicitly admitted that Nateq-Nouri's defeat had caused defections among the ruling faction's supporters and demoralized a significant part of them. He tried to boost their morale by making hollow promises.

In a statement after the election sham, National Council of Resistance President Massoud Rajavi had stressed: The defeat of Khamenei's faction... and the change in the balance of power against him will foment more crisis within the regime, accelerate its disintegration, aggravate its internal feuding and add momentum to the advancement of the Resistance.

Mr. Rajavi had reiterated: Despite the change in the balance of power, there is no possibility for reform in the Velayat-e Faqih dictatorship. Keeping the internal situation in check would be impossible except through adventurism and exporting crisis.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran - Paris
May 30, 1997


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