Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai & President Ahmadinejad0755 GMT: Hours after we posted an analysis questioning whether President Ahmadinejad was still a leading political force, he gave us a new move to consider.
The President named his controversial Chief of Staff, Esfandiar Rahim Mashai, as the head of the secretariat of the Non-Aligned Movement. Iran took the chair of the NAM in August and will hold it until summer 2015.
In recent weeks, as Ahmadinejad has fought a high-profile battle with the head of judiciary Sadegh Larijani and been saved from a Parliamentary interrogation by the Supreme Leader, stories have once more circulated that Rahim Mashai --- the target of criticism by many clerics and politicians --- will run for the Presidency in 2013.
Does the move reinforce the notion of an Ahmadinejad-Rahim Mashai power play or diminish it? On the surface, the advisor is now out of the centre of domestic politics, but he could try to build his base at home while projecting a profile of international relevance in his NAM post.
Ahmadinejad boosted that possibility by naming Hassan Mousavi as his new Chief of Staff. Like Rahim Mashai and Vice President Hamid Baghaei --- also named as a member of the "deviant current" by the President's foes --- Mousavi has led the Iran Culture, Tourism, and Heritage Organization.
Posted via email from lissping
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