0735 GMT: The significance of last Friday's Parliamentary elections may be far from clear --- see our separate analysis --- but the politics in Iran has already moved to other arenas.
On Tuesday, the 86-member Assembly of Experts began a two-day meeting. At the public opening of the session, the head of the Assembly, Ayatollah Mahdavi Kani, repeated the mantra, "The reason for the high turnout in the election was because they feel that their country is being threatened by the enemies."
Far more interesting, however, were the signs of concern. Mahdavi Kani said, "Officials should know that people's participation in election does not mean they are happy with everything in the country."
And was this an assurance, a warning, or a plea? "The Assembly of Experts must not do anything which can weaken the Supreme Leader."
Some of Mahdavi Kani's comments were echoed by MP Ali Motahari, the conservative MP who is leading the challenge to President Ahmadinejad, "The executive bodiesmust know this that the participation of people in the election does not mean they approve of what the government does. People are unhappy with the political and economic management of the country and the way the Government has dealt with its critics and opposition."
Motahari maintained that it was Parliament's right to interrogate Ahmadinejad, and he challenged the President to help the judiciary investigate his aide, Saeed Mortazavi, over the Kahrizak prison abuses and deaths, rather than appointing Mortazavi as head of the Social Security Fund.
Motahari also reached out to reformists within the system, thanks former Mohammad Khatami for voting in Friday's election to "help the unity and solidarity of the nation".
Posted via email from lissping
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