Iran: Several Wounded In Clashes Between Khamenei, Ahmadinejad Supporters

Sources in the Iranian opposition reported about bloody clashes Sunday in Tehran between supporters of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the followers of the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. A number of people were seriously injured. The sources said the clashes took place in front of the metro station at the northern gate of the Great Chapel of Tehran after the two sides traded insults and accusations.

According to sources, the Basij and Ansar Hizbullah who support Khamenei also gathered in the Muneeriyyah square in the south of the capital amid tight security measures by police to prevent supporters of the President’s brother in law, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, to hold a religious event there.

The Iranian president is under growing pressure in recent days from Khamenei’s loyalists following their dispute over Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi in order to prevent the president from controlling the security apparatus in the country.

And the preacher of Friday prayers in Tehran, Ayatollah Kazem Sadiqi, criticized Ahmadinejad when he attended last Saturday a religious meeting at the home of Khamenei, saying he “the president should know that his public support is not absolute, but depends on the extent of his obedience to the Supreme Leader.”

The Revolutionary Guards also threatened President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad because of his relations and the growing rule aatached to his controversial advisor’s Rahim Mashaei.