Iran’s conservative establishment struck hard again at President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Friday, squashing his bid to take over as the country’s caretaker oil minister ahead of a controversial government restructuring plan he’s pushing.
The Guardian Council, a powerful body of clerics and jurists appointed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and parliament, ruled that Ahmadinejad’s decision to dismiss the oil minister and name himself caretaker over the country’s vast energy resources was “illegal,” the semi-official Fars news agency reported (link in Persian).
