Letter indicates a parliamentary committee had considered ‘questioning and impeachment’ of the Iranian president.

NEWSWEEK, November 24, 2010 – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahamdinejad doesn’t falter in public. But a letter written by a parliamentary committee that was made public on Sunday has surely given the confident leader some pause. The 20-page letter noted that the Majlis, or Parliament, had “refrained from the questioning and impeachment of the president” only because of the “orders” given by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for cooperation between the government and the Majlis.
Deciphering the power circles, allies, and enemies within Iran’s opaque government system has been compared to Kremlinology. But this letter is one of the clearest signs yet of the deep divisions within the Iranian government, especially among the conservative camp.Since the controversial 2009 presidential election, Ahamdinejad has tried to project an image of strength both at home and abroad. He enraged millions of Americans by questioning the U.S. government’s role in the 9/11 attacks during his appearance at the U.N. General Assembly in September. And he thumbed his nose at the “Zionist threat” only one kilometer away from the Israeli border during a trip to Lebanon last month.
It’s hard to miss the irony that the letter was written by the “committee to solve differences between the Majlis and the government.” The four Majlis members on the committee were chosen by Ali Larijani, the Parliament speaker and a longtime rival of Ahamdinejad. But rather than outlining ways the Majlis and the government could cooperate better, the committee instead highlighted how much restraint it had shown in confronting Ahamdinejad and potentially removing him from office. “With attention to the special political climate that has existed in recent years,” one part of the letter reads, “the Majlis has not used its full authority in questioning, impeachment, research, and investigation.” The letter concludes that Ahamdinejad hasn’t got the message: “Rather than changing the behavior of the government, this has led to repeated legal violations on the part of the executive branch.” The committee lists 14 violations, including the illegal importation of $9.7 billion worth of fuel without parliamentary oversight, and Ahamdinejad’s push to remove any oversight over the government budget.
It’s difficult to predict the fallout from this letter and how much damage it will do to Ahamdinejad and his administration. His allies will no doubt rally to support him. The letter was sent to Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, the chairman of the Guardian Council and a strong supporter of Ahamdinejad. Jannati could easily ignore the violations listed by the committee, but that may not be enough. A handful of conservative newspapers have reported that a motion to summon Ahamdinejad to the Majlis to answer questions by parliamentarians has already been signed by 40 M.P.s. And this time it wouldn’t be protesters in the street challenging his authority, but politicians from inside his own conservative camp.