Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei

According to The New York Times journalist Thomas Erdbrink, "leading ayatollahs and commanders" have called Mashaei

a "Freemason," a "foreign spy" and a "heretic." They accuse Mashaei of plotting to oust the generation of clerics who have ruled Iran since the 1979 Iranian Revolution and of promoting direct relations with God, instead of through clerical intermediaries. He and his allies, they say, are part of a "deviant" current.[23]

Mashaei also made public statements which some considered pro-Israel,[24] when he said that Iranians are "friends of all people in the world—even Israelis",[25] and that any conflict or disagreement was with the Israeli government only. In another occasion he said: "No nation in the world is our enemy, Iran is a friend of the nation in the United States and in Israel, and this is an honor."[26] He received criticisms from clerics and conservative members of the Iranian Parliament[27] and Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who called the comments about Israelis "illogical".[28] However, his comments received some cautious backing from Ahmedinejad.[29] However, Mashaei has also said that if Israel attacked Iran, Iran could destroy it within a week. In a 20 May 2010 statement his exact words were "Zionists will have no longer than a week to live".[30]

On 6 August 2010, Mashaei again drew protests from Iran's conservative establishment after speaking at a meeting with Iranian expatriates. He said that the ideology of Iran, rather than Iran's state religion of Shia Islam, should be promoted to the world. He also asserted that the country only acknowledged the "pure Islam implemented in Iran and not how Islam is interpreted in and by other countries".[31] He claimed that without Iran, Islam would be lost and other Islamic countries feared Iran due to Iran having the only "truthful" version of Islam.[32]

Iran's armed forces joint chief of staff, General Hassan Firouzabadi, said Mashaei's comments were a "crime against national security" and were divisive against the rest of the Muslim world.[32] Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami said that "equating the school of Iran and the school of Islam amounts to pagan nationalism, which the people of Iran have never accepted." Hardline cleric Ayatollah Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi, condemned Mashaei for having "once again made erroneous and inappropriate statements".[33]

Ahmadinejad, who also spoke at the meeting, defended Mashaei by saying "the atmosphere of criticism is a necessity and nobody should be condemned for voicing his viewpoints and not every difference of opinion should lead to a fight. ... what Mashaei wanted to say was that Iran is a country with culture and civilization and accordingly chose Islam as its ideology."[31] Despite the amount of protest and criticism, Mashaei has never retracted any of his statements.

He has been "associated" with the "deviant current",[34] or "perverted group"[35] (described by the Tehran Times as Iranians "obsessed with the imminent return of the Shiite messiah" and giving insufficient deference to Shia clerics;[36] and by the Tehran Bureau as "Mashaei and his inner circle.")[35] According to Karim Sadjadpour, intelligence forces loyal to Supreme Leader Khamenei using listening devices to listen in on "private" meetings of Mashaei and his supporters, have heard Mashaei talk of "designs to supplant the clergy".[37] According to a report in the New York Review of Books, Mashaei is believed by his followers to be in contact with the "Imam of the Era" or the 12th Imam, and this is the source of his dispute with Iran's clerics and reason for Ahmadinejad's refusal to part ways with him.[38][39]

Apart from these controversial views Mashaei was implicated in a big banking embezzlement in 2011.[33]

On 17 July 2009, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced Mashaei would become the new first vice president of Iran.[25][40] Iran has twelve vice presidents, but the first vice president is the most important, as he leads cabinet meetings if the president is absent.[28]

The announcement triggered criticism from conservatives, including the Basij militia. Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami said the "completely unbelievable" appointment "ridicule[d] the highest religious authorities". The Kayhan newspaper said it was a "mistake" that would "no doubt provoke strong opposition".[25] The Union of Islamic Students stated "The news of your appointment by the legal president has plunged into deep surprise a large number of idealistic students who endured the widespread wave of defamation launched by opposition against Mr. Ahmadinejad and backed his candidacy... While reaffirming our support for Mr. Ahmadinejad, the best choice for president, we believe that your immediate resignation from the post of first vice president would be the only way to serve fundamentalism... You will be on the receiving end of the dire consequences of this appointment." Reformist lawmaker Dariush Ghanbari described the appointment as a "declaration of war" on parliament, because Ahmadinejad had earlier been asked to consult with the deputies before naming his Cabinet. Conservative Parliament speaker Ali Larijani said he was "shocked" to hear of the appointment.[41]

The Pupils Assn. News Agency, an offshoot of the official Islamic Republic News Agency, reported on 19 July 2009 that Mashaei had resigned the post, but the government-controlled Al-Alam News Network later contradicted that report.[41]

On 18 July 2009, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei advised Ahmadinejad to change the position of Mashaei in the cabinet.[5] Second Deputy Speaker Mohammad-Hassan Aboutorabi Fard was on 21 July quoted as saying "Eliminating Mashaei from key positions and the first deputy position is a strategic decision by the regime. The Supreme Leader’s opinion about the removal of Mr. Rahim Mashaei from the position of president’s first deputy has been submitted to the President in writing. Without any delay, the dismissal order or Mashaei’s resignation must be announced by the President."

However, Ahmadinejad's senior assistant was quoted as saying "I have not seen a clear and convincing reason given by anyone to make [Mashaei's] appointment to the first deputy position impossible. Some say he has made mistakes in some of his statements. Well, everyone makes mistakes." He said "The decision to appoint Mashaei will not be revisited," although he later retracted that position.[42][43][44]

Ministers, including then Intelligence Minister Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje'i and then Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad-Hossein Saffar Harandi stormed out of a cabinet meeting during an argument with Ahmedinejad over Mashaei's appointment.[45]

On 22 July, Ahmedinejad spoke affirmatively at a farewell function for Mashaei as he resigned from his position as tourism vice president to take up his new post. "I like Rahim Mashaei for 1,000 reasons. One of the biggest honours of my life and one of the biggest favours from God to me is knowing Rahim Mashaei ... He is like a pure source of water. One of the reasons to like him is that when you sit with him and talk, there is no distance with him. He is like a transparent mirror. Unfortunately not many people know him."[46]

By 24 July this position had become politically unsustainable. Mashaei resigned from the office of vice president, in compliance with the orders of Supreme Leader Khamenei.[5][6]

Some analysts said hard-liners, including Khamanei, opposed Mashaei because of his comments about Israel.[47] More specifically, the statement of Mashei about Israel, indicating that the Israeli people were not enemies of the Iranian people, led to this opposition against him.[47] Others suggested he is a member of a secretive sect, the Hojjatieh, which the Islamic Republic's founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, outlawed, and to which Ahmedinejad has also been linked.[45] It is unclear whether there is any factual basis to these suggestions. Dubious rumors of unusual religious affiliations have been known to surface in Iran concerning people with whom the regime is disaffected.[48]

It was also suggested that by demanding Mashaei's removal, Khamenei effectively appropriated a new power, since normally the Supreme Leader does not intervene openly to oust a government official.[49] However, Article 131 of the constitution provides that first vice president takes over as acting president in cases where the president is incapacitated only if permitted by the supreme leader.

Following Mashaei's resignation, Ahmedinejad appointed him as his chief of staff and head of presidential center, abruptly dismissed from the cabinet Intelligence Minister Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje'i who had opposed the vice-presidential appointment, and threatened to dismiss Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad-Hossein Saffar Harandi. Harandi resigned before he could be dismissed.[45][50] Mashaei was dismissed as head of presidential center less than two years later in April 2011, but retained his other posts. He was replaced by Hamid Baqai, another Ahmadinejad ally, as head.

Ahmadinejad supported Mashaei on the registering day of candidacy

Ahmadinejad was constitutionally prohibited from seeking a third consecutive term in 2013, so he could not run in the 2013 Presidential Election. A "confidential US diplomatic cable" revealed by WikiLeaks in 2011 reported that Mashaei was "being groomed as a possible successor" to President Ahmedinejad.[8][51] Mashaei finally registered to run for Iran's presidential elections on 11 May. However, his nomination was blocked by the Guardian Council on 21 May.[52] He had a mandate of two days to protest to the rejection but his rejection remained.[23]