President Ahmadinejad with Ali and Sadegh Larijani0605 GMT: We open this morning on the nuclear front, after Iran's eventual agreement to Istanbul as the site for discussions on Saturday, with "A 4-Point Beginner's Guide to the Nuclear Talks".
Meanwhile, on the domestic front, another complicated negotiation is under way. As soon Iranians completed a fortnight of New Year's celebrations last week, Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani resumed his sniping at the Ahmadinejad Government. He attacked the administration's supposed mismanagement, irresponsibility, and illegal action on two related fronts, the budget and the subsidy cuts.
Yesterday Larijani suddenly shifted and played saviour on the budget, which was supposed to come into effect on 21 March but which has been held up by the Government's fumbling and Parliament's resistance. A Parliamentary committee had signalled further trouble last weekend when it rejected the budget, but Larijani intervened on Monday to ask the committee for passage, which was soon confirmed.
At the same time, Press TV reports that Larijani "offered explanations about his recent letter to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei regarding the implementation of the second phase of the subsidy reform plan".
The explanation is brief and limited in detail, but the Speaker left no doubt about continued resistance, in contrast to his "saving" of the budget: “The reason for my letter is clear: We have not ratified the second phase of the plan in Majlis yet....Withdrawing the income [of support payments for subsidy cuts], revising the price of energy carriers and the manner of distributing cash handouts must conform to the law.”
So what explains Larijani's give-and-take? Was he forced into concessions by the Supreme Leader? Or is he continuing, with the Supreme Leader's blessing, a chess game of pressure on the President?
A clue to the answer may have come on a different front yesterday, as no less than three close advisors to Ahmadinejad came under fire from the judiciary.And this was not just rhetorical pressure. Presidential aide Saeed Mortazavi has reportedly been summoned, possibly for prosecution on charges of involvement in the abuses and killings at the Kahrizak detention centre in 2009, while Vice President Hamid Baghaei and Ahmadinejad's media advisor Ali Akbar Javanfekr were publicly told that "their cases would be enforced". In Baghaei's case, that could mean suspension from office or investigation for a trial on charges of corruption; in Javanfekr's, it means he could actually be called to prison to begin serving the two one-year sentences handed down on him last year.
Posted via email from lissping
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