Khamenei Appointed Moderate Friday Sermon Leader
Most major newspaper coverage appear to have missed that Khamenei had appointed a moderate Friday sermon candidate, in hopes that his speech might set a moderate tone. Today’s Friday sermon called for unity, in contrast to Ahmadinejad’s pre-sermon speech, and tried to change the focus of the debate. Another sign that Ahmadinejad might have ruffled […]
State media downplays, attacks Rafsanjani before sermon
After a long absence, Hashemi Rafsanjani is going to lead the upcoming Friday sermon. Rafsanjani is a very powerful member of the Iranian establishment who was a major supporter of Mir-Hossein Mousavi and opponent of Ahmadinejad before the election. However, state media, including IRNA, Raja, and Iran newspaper are portraying this as an insignificant event […]