Iran leader rejects talk of a power struggle

TEHRAN, Sep 7 (Reuters) Iran's supreme leader rejected reports of a power struggle within the Islamic Republic's leadership and praised President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a fierce critic of the West.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's highest authority, was speaking yesterday two days after clerics picked former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani to lead a powerful government body, a move some analysts and diplomats saw as a setback for Ahmadinejad.

Rafsanjani's victory over a hardline rival to become speaker of the Assembly of Experts was a further step in his political recovery at the expense of Ahmadinejad, who beat the pragmatic, mid-ranking cleric in the 2005 presidential race, analysts said.

But the change is not expected to herald a shift in Iran's foreign or nuclear policy, nor to have a big impact on the assembly's tendency to stay clear of day-to-day politics.

The assembly -- an 86-seat body with the power to appoint, supervise and even dismiss the supreme leader -- met on Tuesday to replace Speaker Ayatollah Ali Meshkini, who died in July.

Some commentators saw the vote outcome as a victory for a moderately conservative faction led by Rafsanjani, who wants better ties with the West, over ultra-conservative supporters of the president.

But Khamenei appeared to dismiss such talk, saying Iran's enemies had tried to present the assembly as being involved in a power struggle, ''by making up false reports or exaggerating some natural differences in opinions''.

He warned some domestic media not to follow such ''enemy propaganda'', state television reported. ''The Assembly of Experts can not be an arena for fighting and civil war because of its very heavy responsibilities,'' he was quoted as saying.

Rafsanjani, president in the 1990s, has increasingly sided with pro-reform politicians opposed to Ahmadinejad, who came to power two years ago on a pledge to revive the values of the 1979 Islamic revolution.

In the vote, he beat Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, head of the Guardian Council, an oversight body reformists blame for blocking many of their candidates in presidential and parliamentary elections. Jannati is a supporter of Ahmadinejad.

Opponents of Ahmadinejad accuse the president of drawing the wrath of world powers and provoking UN sanctions in a standoff over Tehran's nuclear programme, which the West suspects is aimed at making atom bombs. Iran rejects the charge.

But Khamenei made clear his backing for the president, saying he was ''brave, honest'' and ''extremely hardworking,'' according to the television report.

REUTERS ARB HS0918