Ahmadinejad's Advisers Under Fire

The Washington Post reports:

A growing confrontation between Iran’s clerical rulers and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is spilling over to unusually direct criticism of the president’s inner circle of advisers.

Hard-line ayatollahs and representatives of the Revolutionary Guard Corps who were instrumental in bringing Ahmadinejad to power in 2005 now accuse his top aides of plotting to push Shiite clerics from politics. Although Ahmadinejad, who has become increasingly isolated, has relied closely on his tightknit group, the critics are demanding that the president cut all ties with his team.

In an apparently orchestrated effort, official state media have started reporting that some members of his inner circle are relying on fortune-tellers; others are charged with embezzling government money. Official publications have begun referring to Ahmadinejad’s four top aides as leaders of a “deviant’” political current that is trying to gain absolute power in the country.

The moves against the advisers follow a recent series of public clashes between the president and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and signal a growing challenge to Ahmadinejad’s grip on power.