Iran's parliament grills embattled president

ALI AKBAR DAREINI Associated Press Published:

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran's parliament grilled President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday over a long list of accusations, including that he mismanaged the nation's economy and defied the authority of the country's supreme leader.

Ahmadinejad is the first president in the country's history to be hauled before the Iranian parliament, a serious blow to his standing in a conflict pitting him against lawmakers and the country's powerful clerical establishment.



"If the parliament had supported Ahmadinejad before today, it's now lost," said lawmaker Mohammad Taqi Rahbar.


This -- combined with the president's perceived reluctant to heed expert economic advice -- has convinced many hard-liners that Ahmadinejad wanted to expand the powers of the Iranian presidency that was previously subordinate to clerical leaders.







Other biting questions were directed at Ahmadinejad's support for his protege and top aide, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, who hard-liners accuse of heading a "deviant current" that sought to undermine Islamic rule and compromise the Islamic system. Some critics have even claimed that Mashaei conjured black magic spells to befuddle Ahmadinejad's mind.


Instead of directly replying to the question, Ahmadinejad simply said he supports Iran's "history" and doesn't regret doing so.

Ahmadinejad repeatedly claimed he wants to share "jokes" with the lawmakers.


Ahmadinejad's closing words caused some of the largest uproar.


The president said he must be given a top score on the "quiz." ''Be fair. Give a good grade. Any grade of less than 20 (perfect) will be rude," he said.

Many lawmakers angrily denounced Ahmadinejad's performance, saying he insulted the elected parliament instead of responding to questions politely.

"The president's language was insulting during his entire speech. He escaped answering the questions. As predicted, we didn't receive any logical answer from the president," lawmaker Mostafa Reza Hosseini said.

"The parliament is now very much against the president. He didn't respect the house," parliamentarian Ghodratollah Ali Khani said. "Hopefully, the next step is Ahmadinejad's impeachment."

Ahmadinejad suffered two other snubs on Wednesday.

His bitter opponent, former president Hashemi Rafsanjani, was reappointed for another five-year term as the head of the Expediency Council, a body that advises Khamenei on key issues.

Separately, Iran's judiciary chief said he won't allow members of a supervising council recently set up by Ahmadinejad to oversee the work of his branch.

Ahmadinejad had established the council to monitor the implementation of the country's constitution -- a responsibility usually under Khameni's control.

"We won't allow inspectors and members of this council to the judiciary," state TV website quoted Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani as saying.

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