Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the former leader of Iran, rebuffed the country’s mourning process last week by refusing to use dark during President Ebrahim Raisi’s time of mourning. He then engaged in a violent online dispute with a well-known state media writer named Ameneh Sadat Zabihpour over the incident.
Along with Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and a number of other senior officials, Raisi was killed in a plane crash on May 19. Raisi’s death on Thursday was the culmination of five days of mourning that the Iranian government had ordered for him.
Iran convened a planned meeting of its Council of Authorities in Tehran on the Tuesday following Raisi’s passing. The legislature is one of several governing councils that, in reality, are run by the autocratic supreme leader, who has complete control over both the State and a sizable portion of Iran’s regional wealth.
President of Iran Ebrahim Raisi speaks during a news conference, Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023, in New York ( AP Photo/Jason DeCrow ).
The Assembly of Professionals meets once a year, which is a mysterious body with 88 people. The Assembly of Specialists confirms the highest leader’s alternative until he either passes away or retires, which is one of its responsibilities. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who took control of the Egyptian dictatorship after Khomeini’s passing in 1989 and still holds office at the age of 80, is one of the only two supreme leaders in the country since 1979.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves to media after he voted for the parliamentary runoff elections, in Tehran, Iran, Friday, May 10, 2024 ( AP Photo/Vahid Salemi).
Former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is one of the 88 existing members of the Assembly of Professionals. He is a chaotic person who frequently stirs up disagreement on social media. Ahmadinejad lost favor with Iranian priests shortly after the close of his five-year administration.
He attempted to win backs in 2017 and 2021 but was denied the president both days, despite his propensity of extravagantly registering his election with crowds of howling followers to present the plan he continues to be in power. He was forced to the profits after losing a power struggle.
Before Raisi’s passing, it was rumored that Ahmadinejad was considering running for office again and had expressed interest in the lock election that needed to be held within 50 times. Although some observers wonder if he might have developed much strength as a nationalist firebrand to irk the regime into rejecting his nomination out of hand, he had most likely become disqualified once more.
Ahmadinejad arrived on Tuesday for the Council of Experts meeting’s opening ceremony, which attracted a lot of attention because Khamenei’s health and Raisi’s passing left the government with two inheritance crises to maintain. Most of the guests wore black fits or shirts to recognize Raisi’s departure, but no Ahmadinejad, who chose a white shirt otherwise:
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is seen in a white top at the Assembly of Experts meeting.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the previous president, wearing a white sweater, participated in the opening ceremony of the fifth term of the Assembly of Leadership Professionals. Meanwhile, with Raisi’s … pic. twitter.com/fJgu8hscZQ
— Alex Kennedy ( @therealmindman ) May 21, 2024
Ahmadinejad’s bash of Raisi was noted and denounced by his political competitors and by Zabihpour, who blasted him on social media.  ,
I have n’t seen you since I’ve been covering your programs for eight years. Stupid”! she said, referring to her time as part of the state multimedia equipment during Ahmadinejad’s president.
Zabihpour was sanctioned by the U. S. Treasury Department in November 2022 as an “interrogator- journalist”, a senior employee of Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting ( IRIB ), which has “broadcast hundreds of forced confessions of Iranian, dual national, and international detainees”. She physically participated in a number of these required statement channels, most just focusing on the oppressed Baha’i area and protesters who rose up after the government’s “morality police” killed Mahsa Amini.
One of Ahmadinejad’s friends, a lawyer named Ali Hosseini, fired up by suggesting a time of misconduct earlier in Zabihpour’s job. He made the implication that Amhadinejad regrets giving her a pass for scandalous conduct while she was a president.
” I wish, on that morning at the Warwick Hotel in New York ,]Ahmadinejad ] had n’t snapped at the guards, dismissing it as irrelevant that a specific reporter had spent the night in a specific photographer’s room”, Hosseini said.
Hosseini was probably referring to information artist Rouzbeh Jadidoleslam, who was often part of the press group for Ahmadinejad’s visits worldwide and is close friends with Zabihpour. Under the radical Islamist government, the two frequently refer to one another in people by their first names, which is considered relatively poor between men and women.
Jadidoleslam undoubtedly believed that the insinuation was targeting him because he publicly criticized Hosseini on social media in a post that he called “fraud and charlatan.” Hosseini was then told to “demonstrate his integrity by releasing a photo of his travel visa.”
Over the weekend, the conflict grew as Ahmadinejad’s and Zabihpour’s allies and critics reacted by launching various insults and accusations at one another. Some Zabihpour’s critics accused her of having an affair while also acting as an Islamic morality defender and televising forced confessions from Amini protesters, a practice that technically offends Iranian law and is a crime against humanity.
” Our repulsion towards Ameneh Sadat Zabihpour and the vile quagmire she and others like her have sunk into should n’t make me forsake the principles of]the ] ‘ Women, Life, and Freedom ‘ movement, which constitutes the most fundamental right of a woman over her body”, educational expert and activist Sara Omatali, said.
Women’s rights were the theme of the Amini uprising, so Omatali was trying to express the conflict felt by activists who opposed Iran’s traditional treatment of women. However, she felt uncomfortable supporting Zabihpour’s feminist rights because she is an active supporter of Tehran’s misogynist agenda.
Omatali claimed that” there are countless reasons to disgrace Ameneh Sadat,” adding that Zabihpour’s potential romantic relationship with Jadidoleslam should n’t be one of them.
Zabihpour and Hosseini eventually ended their feuding posts on Twitter and Facebook, but the conflict persists. This may appeal to Ahmadinejad, who may not normally view the Amini movement as a political ally, but it may be because he may be upset.
In light of the possibility that one of his rivals in the election could be Supreme Leader Khamenei’s son, Ahmadinejad appears to be almost daring the regime to punish him or to disqualify him once more from running in the snap election to replace Raisi.
