A fragile time for Iran's president

By Nasser Karimi and Lee Keath from the AP:

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad begins his second term next week undermined by a deepening feud with his fellow hard-liners and under assault from a pro-reform opposition movement that has shown it can bring out thousands of protesters despite a fierce seven-week-old crackdown.

Ahmadinejad sought shelter yesterday with his top supporter, declaring that Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is like a father to him. Ahmadinejad accused his hard-line rivals of trying to drive a wedge between him and Khamenei, who sits atop Iran's clerical leadership and has final say in all state matters.

On Monday, Khamenei will lead a ceremony formally approving Ahmadinejad's second term; two days later Ahmadinejad is to be sworn in before parliament, despite opposition claims that he won the June 12 presidential election by fraud.

In a sign of the growing challenge Ahmadinejad also faces from some in the religious establishment, an influential clerical group at the seminary in the holy city of Qom called for the opposition to continue its campaign against the election results.

The supreme leader has stuck by Ahmadinejad - in part because doing otherwise would be a blow to Khamenei's prestige after he declared the election clean. Still, some hard-liners have warned that they will judge the president's administration by his loyalty to Khamenei, and that if he falls short, he doesn't deserve to lead.

Sensing fragility in the president, rivals within Ahmadinejad's own camp seem to be seeking a greater say in his next administration.

During Friday prayer services in Tehran, a senior ultraconservative cleric told Ahmadinejad to listen to hard-line lawmakers in the makeup of his new cabinet.

"Before naming individuals for ministries, the government and parliament must coordinate," Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati said.

He criticized Ahmadinejad's attempt last month to appoint a vice president opposed by hard-liners and his firing this week of his intelligence minister, Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejehi.

Ahmadinejad has frequently feuded with his own conservative camp, where some complain he keeps power among a tight circle of associates.

In a speech yesterday in the northeastern city of Mashhad, Ahmadinejad said his rivals were trying to create a rift between him and Khamenei. The attempts by "ill-wishers" would fail, he said.

The speech suggested Ahmadinejad will not yield easily to conservatives' meddling. But his rivals seem to see him as vulnerable, since the protest movement that erupted with his reelection shows no sign of flagging. Activists on the Web have called for protests during his inauguration Wednesday.