AFP has the story:
Powerful cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani urged Iran’s warring political groups on Saturday to follow the orders of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for ending the present political turmoil.
In his first such statement in direct support of Khamenei since the June 12 election, the former president said “the current situation needs everyone to observe the leader’s decrees and advice,” Iranian news agencies reported.
Rafsanjani was speaking at the start of a meeting of Iran’s top political arbitration body, the Expediency Council, which he heads.
He urged the bitterly divided groups to create “appropriate conditions to act and commit to the constitution … and confront law breakers, whatever their ideological leanings.” […]
On Saturday, Rafsanjani called for the current “excited and emotional atmosphere” to be replaced by a “wise one.”
He said authorities must follow Khamenei’s advice also on the issue of political detainees jailed in the aftermath of the election.
“The way out of the current situation is commitment to the leader’s advice on detainees of recent events and retrieving the rights of those whose rights have been violated,” he said.
Enduring America downplays the significance of the AFP story above, arguing that this is less of an event than my first take. They say “Rafsanjani’s statement is simply that he is not taking apart the system of ultimate clerical authority. It remains to be seen where he takes his next step against the political leaders in that system.”
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