Ahmadinejad’s Government Will Collapse

A report by the Fars news agency, affiliated with the military-security apparatus, that Mehdi Karoubi has recognized the legitimacy of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s government became a controversial news bomb in Iran yesterday.  The report, despite the suspect nature of its publisher, gave rise to rumors that Mehdi Karoubi is in the process of reaching an agreement with the government born out of the fraudulent June 12 election.

Mehdi Karoubi’s son, Hossein Karoubi, whose interviews with BBC and Radio Farda had only added to the confusion, emphasized in an interview with Rooz that “Mr. Karoubi regards Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to be very weak, and believes that his government will not make it through the four years … It will definitely collapse.”  The interview appears below.  

Rooz: Mr. Karoubi took very strong positions at the convention, emphasizing the issue of election fraud, and went as far as saying, “The issue today is not election fraud; the issue is murdering the youth under torture.”  So why did he suddenly take another position when exiting the convention in response to the Fars reporter’s question?  

Hossein Karoubi (Karoubi): Mr. Karoubi strongly emphasized his positions at the convention and spoke about election fraud.  He then emphasized that the issue is not election fraud, but the issue is that in this country four young individuals were killed at Kahrizak, adding, “During the Shah’s time we were in prison.  When they caught an armed guerilla, who certainly wanted to overthrow the regime, and tortured him, they would still take him to the medical facility for treatment.  But now they torture so much that the person dies under torture.  These are the main issues.”  He even explained the election fraud, saying, “There are many instances of people who sworn that they were monitoring a certain ballot box, in which we had, for example, 90 or 100 votes, but they later announced zero or one.”  After these remarks, when Mr. Karoubi exits the convention, the Fars reporter asks that question, to which Mr. Karoubi replies: “The reality is that he (Ahmadinejad) is the head of government and must carry out his duties and be held responsible.”

Rooz: Mr. Karoubi, the question now is, does Mr. Mehdi Karoubi recognize the legitimacy of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s government, or does he not?

Karoubi: Mr. Karoubi regards Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to be very weak, and believes that his government will not make it through the four years and its life will end halfway, whether this happens through the Majlis, by way of impeachment, or weakness, etc.  In any case, it will not make it and will definitely collapse.  Four years ago, many people said that the Ahmadinejad government will collapse.  But Mr. Karoubi said then that it will not collapse because of windfall oil revenues and the supreme leader’s full-fledged support.  But now Mr. Karoubi believes that this government will definitely collapse.