Iran's constitutional watchdog rebuked the president Wednesday for trying to merge Cabinet ministries without parliamentary approval — the latest sign of discord at the highest levels of the ruling Islamic system in Tehran.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been locked in a simmering confrontation for weeks with Iran's highest authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. It appears to be part of a power struggle ahead of parliamentary elections next year and the vote for Ahmadinejad's successor in mid-2013.
The latest slap to Ahmadinejad came after he tried to streamline his government by combining eight ministries into four without seeking parliamentary approval.
The Guardian Council, which oversees government adherence to the constitution, rejected the move. Hard-line cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, leader of the Guardian Council, ruled that the new ministers would have to be submitted to the parliament for a vote of confidence.
Jannati supported parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani, a key Ahmadinejad foe from a rival camp within the president's conservative political bloc. Larijani and Jannati maintained