TEHRAN - Ex-president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani denied there is a power struggle among Iran's top hierarchy in the wake of last month's disputed presidential poll, the Mehr news agency reported on Sunday.
Rafsanjani, 75, pointed to more than half a century of friendship between himself and Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 70, starting long before the 1979 Islamic revolution. "He is a progressive and forward-looking thinker in different subjects," the former president said.
"The propaganda by the foreign media who try to suggest that there is a power struggle in the top level of the regime is unfair injustice to the Islamic revolution," Rafsanjani was quoted as saying.
A crackdown by the security forces on widespread protests followed the disputed June 12 re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad left at least 20 people dead.
The crisis has ricocheted all the way up the state structure, with Khamenei denouncing protestors, giving support to Ahmadinejad and declaring the vote legal.
Cleric Rafsanjani, who remains powerful as the head of Iran's main political arbitration body and the chairman of the council which oversees the work of the supreme leader, has accused the system of having lost the trust of the people.
"The issue (which has caused) differences these days is about the election and repercussions (that followed) which, if solved, the current row will end," Rafsanjani said.
Rafsanjani had told worshippers during a Friday sermon on July 17 in Tehran that many still doubted the result of the election.
"We should work to address these doubts," he said.
With reformist Mohammad Khatami, Rafsanjani is one of two former presidents who supported Ahmadinejad's main challenger, reformist former premier Mir Hossein Mousavi, in the election.
"I have hope in the supreme leader to solve the current problems based on his knowledge and experience and I still stick to the solutions I offered in the Friday prayer," Rafsanjani said, according to the news agency.
Rafsanjani also on Sunday called for the release of those rounded up during the demonstrations.
On Saturday, opposition leaders called on Iran's top clerics to intervene to prevent "oppression" by the authorities, as a detained protester was reportedly killed in custody.
Iran parliament forms panel to oversee detainees
Iran's conservative-dominated parliament has set up a panel to look into the cases of hundreds of protesters detained in the wave of unrest over last month's disputed presidential election.
"The first meeting of the committee was held yesterday (Sunday) afternoon," lawmaker Hossein Sobhani-nia was quoted as saying by the ILNA news agency on Monday.
According to official reports, between 1,000 and 2,000 people were arrested during the protests.
In the ensuing violence, at least 20 people were killed and scores wounded, according to the official media.
Iranian reformist newspapers have reported this week the deaths of at least two protestors in custody.
The committee was set up on the orders of parliament speaker Ali Larijani, a long-time political rival to Ahmadinejad.
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