Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, gestures under a potrait of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Khamenei urged Ahmadinejad to prepare for another term.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, gestures under a potrait of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Khamenei urged Ahmadinejad to prepare for another term.

Khamenei's approval bolsters president



Within a year of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad coming to power in 2005 there was talk in Tehran that his bull-in-a-china shop approach to foreign policy and domestic populism was seriously disturbing Iran's old guard. They feared the son of a humble blacksmith was jeopardising their vested political and financial interests while he unravelled a decade of diplomacy with the West and the Gulf Arab states. His rants against Israel were playing into the hands of Iran's enemies and heightening international concern about Tehran's nuclear programme.

Ephraim Halevy, the former head of Israel's Mossad spy agency, last week said: "Ahmadinejad is our greatest gift. He only serves us. We couldn't carry out a better operation at Mossad than to put a guy like Ahmadinejad in power in Iran. He unites the world against Iran." It was rumoured in Tehran's political circles three years ago that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country's all-powerful supreme leader, would attempt to rein in the president and, if that failed, there could even be an attempt to remove Mr Ahmadinejad through impeachment.

But the resilient Mr Ahmadinejad survived. And now, with senior clerics and politicians berating his handling of the economy - inflation is galloping at 26 per cent - Ayatollah Khamenei has intervened to bolster the embattled Mr Ahmadinejad and silence his vociferous critics. Ayatollah Khamenei had given the president backing in the past. But the praise he offered Mr Ahmadinejad at the weekend was almost fulsome.

The supreme leader even urged the president to plan for a second four-year term: a statement of support that is likely to dismay potential challengers preparing for next year's presidential elections. "Do not think that this is your last year as head of the government," Ayatollah Khamenei urged Mr Ahmadinejad. "No. Act as if you will stay in charge for five years." The prospect of a second term for Mr Ahmadinejad is unlikely to inspire Americans and Iranians keen for an end to the animosity between their countries. Their hopes are also set on a new administration in Washington that would engage Iran and resolve the nuclear standoff peacefully.

Michael Axworthy, an Iran analyst at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at Exeter University in England, said: "Khamenei is still trying to keep a balance. He's trying to pour oil on troubled waters." Speaking out in support of Mr Ahmadinejad now did not necessarily mean that the supreme leader was endorsing the president for a second term, he said. "But from Khamenei's point of view, Ahmadinejad looks like the best option," said Mr Axworthy, former head of the Iran desk at Britain's Foreign Office. "There are people around Khamenei who feel comfortable with the president. His revolutionary rhetoric legitimates their increasingly threadbare position. It's their only real claim to be there."

Certainly, Iranian conservatives were delighted by Ayatollah Khamenei's remarks. "Everyone has a duty to support a government which has come to power by a majority vote of the people and has been approved by the supreme leader," Asadollah Badamchian, a conservative parliamentarian, told the hardline Kayhan daily yesterday. Ayatollah Khamenei made clear that the back-to-revolutionary basics president was on his ideological wavelength. Mr Ahmadinejad's government had helped "revive" the values of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Khamenei said. And he praised Mr Ahmadinejad for "blocking the infiltration of a westernisation trend in the government" - an implicit criticism of the reformist former president, Mohammed Khatami, who had sought closer ties to the West and attempted to liberalise Iranian society and politics.

Ayatollah Khamenei also hailed the president's tough stance on the nuclear issue, which has seen Iran slapped with three sets of UN Security Council sanctions and bracing for a fourth. The ayatollah called the government's defence of Iran's enrichment of uranium for nuclear fuel a symbol of the country's "national identity". Referring to western pressure on Iran to end the programme, Ayatollah Khamenei declared: "Some bullying and demanding countries wanted to impose their will on our country. But our people, and the president and his ministers, stood up to such demands."

There was one word of criticism from the ayatollah, however. While he gave general support for the president's economic initiative, which is aimed mainly at redirecting billions of dollars of state subsidies towards lower income groups, he warned against implementing it too hastily. "If part of this plan fuels inflation, a way must be found to prevent this or control any negative aspects," Ayatollah Khamenei said. Mr Ahmadinejad came to power on a populist platform promising to give the poor a fairer share of Iran's oil wealth and to tackle corruption. But prices and the unemployment rate has soared in the past two years.

Last week, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a powerful former president and leading pragmatic conservative, lashed out at Mr Ahmadinejad, a bitter rival, blaming him for gas shortages in winter and power cuts in summer. Local newspapers also quoted Mr Rafsanjani as telling university teachers that Ayatollah Khamenei asked him and other senior figures to tolerate Mr Ahmadinejad's government for some time but that the era of leniency was over.

But Ayatollah Khamenei, who arbitrates between Iran's various bickering power centres, has come decisively off the fence, signalling he wants an end to such increasingly vocal attacks on the president. The supreme leader, who likes to portray the regime as unified, said the constant negativity of Mr Ahmadinejad's critics was destructive and their personal animosity was blinding them to the president's achievements.

Mr Ahmadinejad, galvanised and relieved by the rare words of praise, said: "The exalted leader's approval of the government's direction is a shining medal on our hearts." @Email:mtheodoulou@thenational.ae

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RESULTS

West Asia Premiership

Thursday
Jebel Ali Dragons 13-34 Dubai Exiles

Friday
Dubai Knights Eagles 16-27 Dubai Tigers

Squid Game season two

Director: Hwang Dong-hyuk 

Stars:  Lee Jung-jae, Wi Ha-joon and Lee Byung-hun

Rating: 4.5/5

The specs

  Engine: 2-litre or 3-litre 4Motion all-wheel-drive Power: 250Nm (2-litre); 340 (3-litre) Torque: 450Nm Transmission: 8-speed automatic Starting price: From Dh212,000 On sale: Now

Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
 
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
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Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh132,000 (Countryman)
Sugary teas and iced coffees

The tax authority is yet to release a list of the taxed products, but it appears likely that sugary iced teas and cold coffees will be hit.

For instance, the non-fizzy drink AriZona Iced Tea contains 65 grams of sugar – about 16 teaspoons – per 680ml can. The average can costs about Dh6, which would rise to Dh9.

Cold coffee brands are likely to be hit too. Drinks such as Starbucks Bottled Mocha Frappuccino contain 31g of sugar in 270ml, while Nescafe Mocha in a can contains 15.6g of sugar in a 240ml can.

SPECS

Engine: 4-litre V8 twin-turbo
Power: 630hp
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: 8-speed Tiptronic automatic
Price: From Dh599,000
On sale: Now

The specs

Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo

Power: 178hp at 5,500rpm

Torque: 280Nm at 1,350-4,200rpm

Transmission: seven-speed dual-clutch auto

Price: from Dh209,000 

On sale: now

THE SPECS

Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine 

Power: 420kW

Torque: 780Nm

Transmission: 8-speed automatic

Price: From Dh1,350,000

On sale: Available for preorder now

The specs

AT4 Ultimate, as tested

Engine: 6.2-litre V8

Power: 420hp

Torque: 623Nm

Transmission: 10-speed automatic

Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)

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Leaderboard

63 - Mike Lorenzo-Vera (FRA)

64 - Rory McIlroy (NIR)

66 - Jon Rahm (ESP)

67 - Tom Lewis (ENG), Tommy Fleetwood (ENG)

68 - Rafael Cabrera-Bello (ESP), Marcus Kinhult (SWE)

69 - Justin Rose (ENG), Thomas Detry (BEL), Francesco Molinari (ITA), Danny Willett (ENG), Li Haotong (CHN), Matthias Schwab (AUT)

MATCH INFO

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Final: June 1, Madrid

Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021

Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.

The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.

These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.

“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.

“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.

“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.

“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”

Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.

There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.

“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.

“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.

“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
 
Started: 2021
 
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
 
Based: Tunisia 
 
Sector: Water technology 
 
Number of staff: 22 
 
Investment raised: $4 million