The Iran Primer

      Chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili is a major conservative candidate for Iran’s presidency. The secretary of the Supreme National Security Council seems to share the supreme leader’s hardline outlook on all key issues. The following are excerpts from various interviews, public remarks and campaign materials.

 

 

            “We are against the proliferation of nuclear weapons. The serious question today is which country has supplied Israel with nuclear arms. This is a serious question that needs to be addressed internationally.” February 4, 2013 at a press conference in Damascus

            “Uranium enrichment is one of these rights that every individual member state [of the Non-Proliferation Treaty] should benefit from and enjoy for peaceful purposes... Talks should be based on confidence-building measures, which would build the confidence of Iranians.” April 14, 2012 at a press conference in Istanbul after negotiations

            “The strategy of pressure is wrong and could not bring any results.” February 2013 in an interview with The Christian Science Monitor

            “The IAEA [U.N. nuclear watchdog] said they didn't find one document showing any diversion from our peaceful program. Some of the great powers know this and they have made clear that they didn't want confidence building - they just want to deprive Iran of its inalienable rights.” December 18, 2006 in an interview with the Boston Globe

            “We believe that the right to enrich is an inalienable right of the Iranian people ― whether we are talking about [to a level of] five percent or 20 percent.” April 6, 2013 according to AFP

            “Those who have focused on the issue of uranium enriched to 20 percent [purity] should be accountable today and answer why they refused to give it to us when we told them we did not want to produce it and asked them to sell it to us for peaceful purposes.” May 16, 2013 in an interview with the Financial Times

 

            “Those who feel they can pressure the Iranian people through sanctions, are playing in our field; because this act allows for an enhanced Islamic Republic… That which is coming to an end is pressure placed on the Iranian people, for without doubt, difficulties result in further resistance and growth.” May 17, 2012 at a conference on Iran’s economy

            “At least over the past few years when I have been carefully following the effects of sanctions, I see that they can be easily bypassed and turned into opportunities.” May 16, 2013 in an interview with the Financial Times

 

            “To serve its interests, not only does the United States violate the rights of others, but also violates its claims about democracy and free trade by meddling in the internal affairs of other countries and the imposition of unilateral sanctions.” January 2, 2013 during an official visit to India

            “The Iranian nation’s behavior over the past 34 years shows that the US cannot do whatever it wants. The US seriously opposed Iran’s nuclear program when they thought they had no rival in the world. But then they said they were seeking international consensus, but that did not succeed, either... We have never waited to see what US conditions for [direct] talks are. The problem is America’s behaviour. It has to change.”May 16, 2013 in an interview with the Financial Times

            “The United States uses terror as a means for achieving its evil goals… The Islamic revolution of 1978 emerged at a time when the United States had looted the nation’s assets and sought to dominate its minds.” November 4, 2011 at an event marking the anniversary of the U.S. Embassy takeover

 

            “The Islamic Revolution model can be reproduced everywhere... If all the powers of the [global] south are connected to pool their power, a great power will be added to the superpowers.” In undated comments on his campaign website

            “How could Assad have lasted this long? Isn't it because he's leaning on popular support? We're not saying that no one is opposed to him. But at the end of the day the will of the people is with him.”August 2012 in an interview with Al Mayadeen television

            “Terrorists have never brought democracy to nations… The present dilemma in Syria is that outsiders have disguised their illegitimate demands as public demands, and are trying to abuse the ongoing crisis in a bid to implement their colonial and interventionist policies.” August 9, 2012 in a meeting with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari in Baghdad

            “We’ve said from the outset of the Syrian crisis that the only thing that can help resolve the crisis is national dialogue in Syria… We’ve said that terrorism, violent behavior and killing innocent people cannot be steps toward defending the rights of the Syrian people.” February 4, 2013 at a press conference in Damascus

            “The [Israeli] attack exposes the aggressive nature of the regime and its threat to regional security and stability… Enemies claim to defend and support the Syrian nation on the one hand and continue to hatch plots against it on the other hand.” February 2, 2013 in a meeting with Syrian Prime Minister Wael al Halqi in Damascus

            “Once Kofi Annan asked me what is your idea on resolving the problem in Syria. I said: It is only one word: Democracy.” May 13, 2013 via Twitter

 

            “The Islamic Awakening has created a great opportunity, and it is only natural that the enemies of peace and stability in the region and the enemies of the Islamic Ummah [community] are not pleased with this situation.” August 6, 2012 in Beirut

            “The United States and Europe must be answerable to the Egyptian people for supporting a dictatorship for 30 years… The victory of the Egyptian Revolution coinciding with the victory of Iran's Islamic Revolution proved that 22 Bahman [February 11] is the day of triumph for regional nations and is the day of defeat for the United States and the Zionist regime.” Feb. 11, 2011 in an interview with Press TV

            “Fortunately, the Islamic thinkers' theory that says Islam is the sole political solution to save the Islamic Ummah has materialized…” July 2012 at a meeting with a Tunisian lawmaker in Tehran

 

            “Palestine belongs to the entire world of Islam and should be liberated.” May 12, 2012 in a meeting with Hamas Foreign Minister Mohamed Awad in Tehran

           “Resistance for the liberation of Palestinian lands is the best axis for unity of Islamic nation and could be used as a preventive strategy in deterring the enemy’s divisive plots.” March 3, 2013 in a meeting with Hamas deputy chief Mousa Abu Marzouq in Tehran

 

            “Some say religion is only personal rituals, some say religion is for society. We say religion is for all.” May 13, 2013 via Twitter

            “Islamic thought has powerfully withstood against Western doctrines.” November 4, 2011 at an event marking the anniversary of the U.S. Embassy takeover

 

            Israel “will regret its attack on Syria, just like it regretted its war on Gaza and Lebanon… Iran will use its power in the [U.N.] Security Council to support Syria against Israel.” February 4, 2013 to the press in Damascus

            “The world community must steadfastly attend to the Zionist nuclear weapon issue… and must be determined to contain proliferation…” February 2013 according to The Young Journalists Club

 

 

            Mashaei shares several characteristics with a new generation of political elites. Most were born in villages and small towns. They were young during the 1979 revolution. They have not emerged from the traditional conservative establishment. Many have backgrounds in the Revolutionary Guards or security forces, fostering a “military-security” political class. Finally, few have so far held elected office. But it is difficult to assess how much appeal Mashaei has among the general population. Some of the president’s allies are concerned that Mashaei’s rhetoric has the potential to become popular.

How is Mashaei perceived among Iran’s political elite?

            Mashaei’s statements have provoked the clerical establishment in the holy city of Qom as well as traditional conservatives in the regime. In 2007, Mashaei—then the vice president and head of the Cultural Heritage Organization—angered top clerics and politicians by attending an event in Turkey where women performed a traditional dance. In 2008, he hosted a ceremony in which some women played tambourines and others carried Korans. “It is people who do not understand music who say it is haram [forbidden by Islamic law],” he said.
            He has also sparked controversies over statements about everything from Biblical history to foreign affairs. If the Prophet Noah “had had good managerial skills, other prophets would not have appeared after him,” he reportedly said. He also pronounced, “Without Iran, Islam would be lost.” On current events, he once said, “Iranians are friends of Israelis.”
            His daring comments and actions have pushed the envelope of the Islamic Republic’s officially sanctioned values. Many clerics consider his remarks on religious affairs to be encroaching on their territory and dismissing them as uninformed or even heretical.
            Even fervent supporters of Ahmadinejad have criticized Mashaei. Hardline cleric Ayatollah Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi branded Mashaei’s statements “erroneous and inappropriate.” In 2009, the supreme leader’s representative on the hardline newspaper Keyhan accused Mashaei of being an agent of the “velvet revolution.” General Hassan Firouzabadi, head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, denounced Mashaei’s remarks as a “deviation” that undermined national security and against the principles of the Islamic Republic.

 

            Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei was born in 1960 in a northern Iranian village. He participated in his town’s revolutionary rallies as an 18-year-old and studied electrical engineering at Isfahan University after the revolution. In 1981, Mashaei joined the Revolutionary Guards intelligence unit after the Mujahedeen-e Khalq instigated an armed campaign against the Iranian government during the Iran-Iraq War. He was later dispatched to Kurdistan, where Kurdish militants were battling forces loyal to the newly formed Islamic Republic. Mashaei championed a cultural-propaganda campaign, rather than a purely coercive counterinsurgency, to deal with the Kurds.
            In 1984, Mashaei joined the Intelligence Ministry in Kurdistan, where he met Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, then governor of the northwestern city of Khoy. The two men developed a close friendship that has endured almost three decades.
            In 1986, Mashaei was appointed director of an Intelligence Ministry department that dealt with ethnic issues in sensitive regions. He left Kurdistan to help formulate a national strategy. In 1993, he became head of the Interior Ministry’s Social Affairs Department under President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.  After the 1997 victory of reformist President Mohammad Khatami, Mashaei left the Interior Ministry and worked for state radio, which is under the direct control of the supreme leader.
            In 2003, Mashaei joined the staff of Tehran’s new mayor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, after he was selected by the conservative municipal council. He headed the city’s cultural-artistic affairs organization. Among his controversial initiatives, Mashaei proposed building a major thoroughfare to prepare for the arrival of the twelfth Shiite Imam—the Mahdi or “Hidden Imam”—who disappeared in the ninth century. The Mahdi will return as a messiah as the world comes to an end, according to Shiite eschatology.

            After Ahmadinejad was elected president in 2005, Mashaei became a major player in his cabinet, serving as the president’s chief of staff. They also now have family ties. In 2008, Mashaei’s daughter married Ahmadinejad’s oldest son.

 

            Under Ahmadinejad’s patronage, Mashaei has gained more influence in the cabinet, and many see him as the president’s second-in-command. But since 2005, he has also emerged as one of the most controversial figures in the Iranian government. He has been at the center of internal battles between Ahmadinejad’s circle and conservatives known as principlists, who feel the president is veering from the revolution’s early principles.
            Mashaei has held other key positions on both domestic and foreign affairs. Besides chief of staff, he has been the president’s adviser for Middle Eastern affairs; vice president of the High Council of Iranian Affairs Abroad; and the secretary of the administration’s cultural committee.
            Mashaei is often blamed for formulating apocalyptic and religious-nationalistic themes prominent in Ahmadinejad’s rhetoric. Ahmadinejad has urged Iranians to actively pave the way for the coming of the Mahdi. The two themes have been widely viewed as an attempt to build a new constituency among the young and the poor. Ahmadinejad’s messianic interpretation differs from popular Shiite mythology and diminishes the role of Shiite clerics.
            As clerics are falling out of favor in Iranian politics, Ahmadinejad’s opponents are concerned that his rhetoric of “principlists minus the clergy” will become more popular and enhance hardliners around the president.

 

            President Ahmadinejad appointed Mashaei as his first vice president on July 17, 2009 after the disputed June presidential election. The appointment angered many top clerics and other allies of Ahmadinejad. The appointment reportedly increased tensions within the administration. At one cabinet meeting, four ministers clashed with the president over Mashaei’s appointment. On July 24, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei overruled Ahamdinejad’s appointment and Mashaei was forced to resign.
            The Iranian constitution states that the first vice president has the duty to lead cabinet meetings in the absence of the president. He also succeeds the president—with approval of the supreme leader—if the president dies or becomes incapable of performing his duties. Ahmadinejad’s critics suggested that the president was manipulating the post-election turmoil to insert his right-hand man into the center of power. In the end, however, Mashaei’s opponents had enough leverage to block his appointment. Ahmadinejad instead appointed Mashaei his chief of staff.

 

            Mashaei has been viewed as a man surrounded by controversy, and his relationship with President Ahmadinejad has been an enigma to the president’s conservative allies. Ahmadinejad once said he had “a thousand reasons” to support Mashaei and that there was “no convincing” reason for the attacks on him. “One of the virtues and glories God has bestowed on me in life was to become acquainted with this great, honest, and pious man,” Adhmadinejad said.

            Mashaei generally echoes the president’s views on Iran’s nuclear program. There is no sign of disagreement between them. But both men have distanced themselves from core fundamentalist policies in Iran, including the hejab (Islamic dress) and police crackdowns on styles of dress considered un-Islamic.

 

Kourosh Rahimkhani is an independent scholar specializing in Iranian affairs. He worked as a journalist for a number of reformist newspapers in Iran before moving to the United States.