Iranian heads of 3 branches of govt. pledge to stand in solidarity in letters to Supreme Leader

TEHRAN,Nov.4(MNA) -- Following the remarks of Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei at a gathering of students on Wednesday, in which he advised Iranian officials and the heads of the three branches of government to refrain from publicizing their disagreements, the Judiciary chief, the Majlis speaker, and the president wrote separate letters to the Leader stating that they will obey his guidelines. “From today to election day, anyone who seeks to take their disagreements to the people and to play on their emotions for the purpose of disagreements is certainly betraying the country,” Ayatollah Khamenei said on Wednesday. The Leader’s warning came after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani wrote open letters to each other about a request by the president to visit Evin prison. In the letters, the two men traded accusations against each other. The president was the first one who publicized his letter. In part of his letter to the Leader, Judiciary Chief Larijani said: “The unifying message of that beloved one (the Leader) to officials and the heads of the three branches of government, which originated from the… fountain of velayat (rule of the supreme jurisprudent), was received wholeheartedly.” In his letter, Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani, stated: “In regard to the country’s sensitive situation, Your Excellency’s advice and well-intentioned guidelines were very valuable and prudent and uttered at a timely moment, and definitely the observation of the decrees… by the country’s officials for creating an atmosphere of unity and brotherhood… is obligatory, and God willing, it will bring about national prosperity.” In his letter to the Leader, the president said the administration would not “welcome” tension or friction and would “patiently tolerate” every slight for the sake of the country. In another part of his letter, the president said he was sure that the Supreme Leader would safeguard the “high status” of the president as the elected representative of the people who is the highest-ranking official after the Leader and that the Leader would “oppose any move that undermines the authority of” the president.