| Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei اسفندیار رحیم مشایی |
|
|---|---|
| Chief of Staff of the President of Iran | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 30 July 2009 |
|
| President | Mahmoud Ahmadinejad |
| Preceded by | Gholam-Hossein Elham |
| Head of Presidential Center | |
| In office 19 September 2009 – 9 April 2011 |
|
| President | Mahmoud Ahmadinejad |
| Preceded by | Reza Sheykholeslam |
| Succeeded by | Hamid Baqai |
| First Vice President of Iran | |
| In office 17 July 2009 – 25 July 2009 |
|
| President | Mahmoud Ahmadinejad |
| Preceded by | Parviz Davoodi |
| Succeeded by | Mohammad-Reza Rahimi |
| Head of Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization | |
| In office 4 August 2005 – 17 July 2009 |
|
| Preceded by | Hossein Mar'ashi |
| Succeeded by | Hamid Baqai |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 16 November 1960 Ramsar, Iran |
| Political party | Abadgaran |
| Spouse(s) | Zabihian Langeroudi |
| Alma mater | Isfahan University of Technology |
| Religion | Shia Islam |
Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei (Persian: اسفندیار رحیممشایی; born 16 November 1960 in Ramsar) is a top adviser, and close confident[1] of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.[2] He is currently Ahmadinejad's Chief of Staff. He served as the head of the Presidential Center from 2009 to 2011,[3] and was First Vice President of Iran for one week in 2009 before he was ordered removed from that post by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.[4][5] He has been widely criticized by Iranian conservatives for alleged "deviant" tendencies.[1][6][7][8]
Mashaei has been described as a "Religious-Nationalist" who actively promotes nationalistic themes and ideas, and puts emphasis on Iran's pre-Islamic past, much to the disdain of the Islamic Republic's conservative establishment.[9] He has also been called a pragmatic, moderate Conservative with "liberal views on cultural and social issues".[10]
Contents |
He was born on 16 November 1960 in Katalom, Ramsar, Mazandaran Province. His father, Rahim was a businessman in their city. Mashaei studied electrical engineering and holds a bachelor's degree from Isfahan University of Technology. In 1984, during the Iran-Iraq War, Mashaei joined the Intelligence Ministry in Kurdistan, where he met Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, then governor of the northwestern city of Khoy. The two men developed a close friendship[11] and Mashaei has been described as the President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's "comrade" during that time. After Ahmadinejad was elected president in 2005, Mashaei became an influential member of the cabinet.[11] He was appointed on 31 December 2007 to run the newly founded National Center for Research on Globalization.[12] He is a former head of the Cultural Heritage Organization of Iran, and previously served briefly as a deputy interior minister.
Mashaei's daughter married President Ahmadinejad's oldest son in 2008.[11]
According to Associated Press, Mashaei appears to be the "core" of the dispute between President Ahmadinejad and religious hard-liners in Iran. Mashaei's views, such as his statement that Iran’s ideology "should take precedent over promoting Islam on the world stage", have "outraged hard-liners" and brought a dispute between the president and parliament.[1]
In 2007, Mashaei controversially attended a ceremony in Turkey where women performed a traditional dance. Conservative interpretations of Islam prohibit dancing by women.
In 2008, he hosted a ceremony in Tehran in which several women played tambourines while another carried the Koran to a podium to recite verses from the Muslim holy book. Hard-liners viewed the festive mood as disrespectful to the Koran.
Mashaei also made public statements which some considered pro-Israel,[13] when he said that Iranians are “friends of all people in the world—even Israelis”,[14] and that any conflict was with the Israeli Government only. In another occasion he said: "No nation in the world is our enemy, Iran is a friend of the nation in the United States and in Israel, and this is an honor."[15] He received criticisms from clerics, conservative members of the Iranian Parliament[16] and Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who called the comments about Israelis "illogical".[17] However, his comments received some cautious backing from Mahmoud Ahmedinejad.[18] However, Mashaei has also said that if Israel attacked Iran, Iran could destroy it within a week. In a 20 May 2010 statement his exact words were "Zionists will have no longer than a week to live".[19]
On August 6, 2010, Mashaei again drew protests from Iran's conservative establishment after speaking at a meeting with Iranian expatriates. He said that the ideology of Iran, rather than Iran's state religion of Shia Islam, should be promoted to the world. He also asserted that the country only acknowledged the "pure Islam implemented in Iran and not how Islam is interpreted in and by other countries".[20] He claimed that without Iran, Islam would be lost and other Islamic countries feared Iran due to Iran having the only "truthful" version of Islam.[21] His remarks shocked many in the audience.
Iran’s armed forces joint chief of staff, General Hassan Firouzabadi, said Mashaei's comments were a “crime against national security” and were divisive against the rest of the Muslim world.[21] Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami said that "equating the school of Iran and the school of Islam amounts to pagan nationalism, which the people of Iran have never accepted." Hardline cleric Ayatollah Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi, condemned Mashaei for having "once again made erroneous and inappropriate statements".[22]
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who also spoke at the meeting, defended Mashaei by saying "the atmosphere of criticism is a necessity and nobody should be condemned for voicing his viewpoints and not every difference of opinion should lead to a fight... what Mashaei wanted to say was that Iran is a country with culture and civilization and accordingly chose Islam as its ideology."[20] Despite the amount of protest and criticism, Mashaei has never retracted any of his statements.
He has been "associated" with the "deviant current",[23] or "perverted group"[24] (described by the Tehran Times as Iranians "obsessed with the imminent return of the Shiite messiah" and giving insufficient defference to Shia clerics;[25] and by the Tehran Bureau as "Mashaei and his inner circle"[24]). According to Karim Sadjadpour, intelligence forces loyal to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei using listening devices to listen in on “private” meetings of Mashaei and his supporters, have heard Mashaei talk of "designs to supplant the clergy".[26] According to a report in the New York Review of Books, Mashaei is believed by his followers to be in contact with the "Imam of the Era" or the 12th Imam, and this is the source of his dispute with Iran's clerics and reason for Ahmadinejad's refusal to part ways with him.[27][28]
On 17 July 2009, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced Mashaei would become the new First Vice President of Iran.[14][29] Iran has twelve vice presidents, but the First Vice President is the most important, as he leads Cabinet meetings if the president is absent.[17]
The announcement triggered criticism from conservatives, including the Basij militia. Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami said the “completely unbelievable” appointment “ridicule[d] the highest religious authorities”. The Kayhan newspaper said it was a “mistake” that would “no doubt provoke strong opposition”.[14] The Union of Islamic Students stated "The news of your appointment by the legal president has plunged into deep surprise a large number of idealistic students who endured the widespread wave of defamation launched by opposition against Mr. Ahmadinejad and backed his candidacy ... While reaffirming our support for Mr. Ahmadinejad, the best choice for president, we believe that your immediate resignation from the post of first vice president would be the only way to serve fundamentalism ... You will be on the receiving end of the dire consequences of this appointment." Reformist lawmaker Dariush Ghanbari described the appointment as a "declaration of war" on parliament, because Ahmadinejad had earlier been asked to consult with the deputies before naming his Cabinet. Conservative Parliament speaker Ali Larijani said he was "shocked" to hear of the appointment.[30]
The Pupils Assn. News Agency, an offshoot of the official Islamic Republic News Agency, reported on 19 July 2009 that Mashaei had resigned the post, but the government-controlled Al-Alam News Network later contradicted that report.[30]
On 18 July 2009, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei ordered Mashaei to resign from the cabinet.[4] Second Deputy Speaker Mohammad Hassan Aboutorabi-Fard was on 21 July quoted as saying "Eliminating Mashaei from key positions and the first deputy position is a strategic decision by the regime. The Supreme Leader’s opinion about the removal of Mr. Rahim Mashaei from the position of president’s first deputy has been submitted to the President in writing. Without any delay, the dismissal order or Mashaei’s resignation must be announced by the President."
However, Ahmadinejad’s senior assistant was quoted as saying "I have not seen a clear and convincing reason given by anyone to make [Mashaei's] appointment to the first deputy position impossible. Some say he has made mistakes in some of his statements. Well, everyone makes mistakes." He said "The decision to appoint Mashaei will not be revisited," although he later retracted that position.[31][32][33]
Ministers including Intelligence Minister Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje'i and Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad-Hossein Saffar Harandi stormed out of a Cabinet meeting during an argument with Ahmedinejad over Mashaei's appointment.[34]
On 22 July, Ahmedinejad spoke affirmatively at a farewell function for Mashaei as he resigned from his position as tourism vice president to take up his new post. "I like Rahim Mashaei for 1,000 reasons. One of the biggest honours of my life and one of the biggest favours from God to me is knowing Rahim Mashaei ... He is like a pure source of water. One of the reasons to like him is that when you sit with him and talk, there is no distance with him. He is like a transparent mirror. Unfortunately not many people know him."[35]
By 24 July this position had become politically unsustainable. Mashaei resigned from the office of vice president, in compliance with the orders of Supreme Leader Khamenei.[4][5]
Some analysts have said hard-liners opposed Mashaei because of his comments about Israel. Others suggest he is a member of a secretive sect, the Hojjatieh, which the Islamic Republic's founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, outlawed, and to which Ahmedinejad has also been linked.[34] It is unclear whether there is any factual basis to these suggestions. Dubious rumors of unusual religious affiliations have been known to surface in Iran concerning people with whom the regime is disaffected.[36]
It has been suggested that by demanding Mashaei's removal, Khamenei effectively appropriated a new power, since normally the Supreme Leader does not intervene openly to oust a government official.[37] However, Article 131 of the Constitution provides that First Vice President takes over as acting President in cases where the President is incapacitated only if permitted by the Supreme Leader.
Following Mashaei's resignation, Ahmedinejad appointed him as his chief of staff and head of presidential center, abruptly dismissed from the cabinet Intelligence Minister Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje'i who had opposed the vice-presidential appointment, and threatened to dismiss Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad-Hossein Saffar Harandi. Harandi resigned before he could be dismissed.[34][38] Mashaei was dismissed as Head of Presidential Center less than two years later in April 2011, but retained his "other posts". He was replaced by Hamid Baqai, another Ahmadinejad "ally".
Ahmadinejad is constitutionally prohibited from seeking a third consecutive term, so he cannot participate in the 2013 Presidential Election. A "confidential US diplomatic cable" revealed by WikiLeaks in 2011 reported that Mashaei was "being groomed as a possible successor" to president Ahmedinejad.[2][39]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Hossein Mar'ashi |
Head of Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization 2005–2009 |
Succeeded by Hamid Baqai |
| Preceded by Parviz Davoodi |
First Vice President of Iran 2009 |
Succeeded by Mohammad Reza Rahimi |
| Preceded by Reza Sheykholeslam |
Head of Presidential Center of Iran 2009-2011 |
Succeeded by Hamid Baqai |
| Preceded by Gholam-Hossein Elham |
Chief of Staff of the President of Iran 2009-Present |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by Hossein Saffar Harandi |
Deputy leader of Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran 2007-2011 |
Succeeded by Nasrin Soltankhah |