The blowback from Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's steady fall from favor with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei continues.
In the latest sign that Ahmadinejad is on his way out or at least is going to have a lot less power in the future, Iran's majlis ( parliament) has impeached two Ahmadinejad loyalists, Economy Minister Shamseddin Hosseini and Energy Minister Majid Namjou.
Both men are accused of involvement in fraud and corruption, as well as the catch all offense of "striking a deviant path."
In Hosseini's case, the idea is to find a scapegoat for a scam involving forged letters of credit approved by half a dozen Iranian banks to the tune of about $2.6 billion dollars. Namjou's ministry oversees the electricity and water networks but not the oil sector, and he's on the hook for cronyism, 'weak performance' alleged kickbacks and well, for being an Ahmadinejad ally.
Ahmadinjad himself was the subject of an impeachment move back in June when over 100 lawmakers signed an impeachment motion against him. So far,the majlis' presiding board has simply let impeachment proceedings lie.
It's easy to see why. Dumping Ahmadinejad after less than two years might lead to a certain amount of political turmoil and further unrest in the Islamic Republic, but Khamenei likely would be content with a weakened Ahmadinejad who does his bidding and poses no threats staying in office.
Just to be clear, the opposition from Ahmadinejad isn't coming from moderates or the Iranian dissidents but from hardliners and Khamenei loyalists. Ahmadinejad apparently got a little too independent for the Supreme Leader's taste.
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