Iran’s Ahmadinejad defends Masha’i pick

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has defended the decision to appoint Esfandyar Rahim-Masha’i as his first deputy, advising critics to get to know his close confidant better.

Ahmadinejad’s choice of first vice president, a key position who can lead Cabinet meetings in the absence of the chief executive, resulted in a storm of criticism from the Iranian President’s fellow conservatives.

The father in law of Ahmadinejad’s daughter, last year came under scrutiny for saying that the Iranian nation is friends with all other nations including the Israeli one.

“He is one of the most pious, devoted and creative managers in the country, why should he resign?” Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters in Tehran, the President said, “Masha’i will continue to serve the Revolution and the nation.”

Three days after Rahim-Masha’i’s appointment on Friday, reports surfaced that the former head of Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization (ICHTO) had resigned from his new post.

An informed source, however, rejected the reports on Rahim-Masha’i’s website the same day.

A powerful Majlis faction threatened to take the matter of Rahim-Masha’i’s appointment as vice president up with the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei if the president refuses to drop the idea himself.

Reports suggest that Ayatollah Khamenei has called on Ahmadinejad, in a letter, to remove “Rahim-Masha’i from key positions and presidential deputies” as the “collective decision of the political establishment.”

“If they [Masha’i’s critics] knew him better they would changed their minds,” the Iranian President added.