Iran's constitutional watchdog on Saturday opposed an attempt by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to expand his administration's power, saying the move "lacks legal justification." The decision by the Guardian Council was the second major rebuke in less than a month for the hardline president, whose popularity has plummeted recently in the face of Iran's ailing economy. Last month, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rebuffed Ahmadinejad and ordered him to implement a law supplying natural gas to remote villages after he initially refused to do so.
The most recent conflict began earlier this month when Iran's parliament opposed Ahmadinejad's attempt to bring several cultural, economic, technological and environmental institutions under tighter government control. The institutions were composed of a mix of government-appointed and independent representatives, but the Iranian president wanted to have total control of their activities.
The parliament countered Ahmadinejad's attempt by passing its own bill that explicitly prevented the president from taking any steps to bring the institutions under greater government control. |