So that was it!

Iran's leader has been spying on president Ahmadi Nejad for a while, reported by TheEconomist. Ali Khamenei has apparently used Mr. Heydar Moslehi, the Intelligence Minister, to bug the president's office. An outraged president then sacks his minister. The rest I wrote about down here.

I am now more concerned about the reason behind the move, spying on someone whom the leader went to a great extent to rig an election and put him into office. The first indication is that the main target had been Mr. Mashaei, the president's Chief of Staff who has been a controversial figure for quite sometimes now. He has been associated with a new idea of an Iranian Islamic-Culture, say an Iranian version of Islam, as opposed to an Arabic Islamic-Culture.

Traditional Iranian clerics have responded fiercely to such idea and understandably so. They see the idea a great danger to their religious authority; social status; political power; economic power; and above all their relevance to the new Iranian society. For them the killing and burial of the idea is a battle of 'to be or not to be'.

That was perhaps--I am pretty sure it was--behind the move by the leader over a year ago to order Mr. Mashaei's removal as the Vice-President. However, as a defiance, president Ahmadi Nejad kept Mr. Mashei close by moving him into his office. That was the first sign of unprecedented challenge to the leader.

This time around, however, over the bugging issue and the Ahmadi Nejad's refusal to comply with the leader decision of reinstating the Intelligence Minister, was a decisive moment for both the traditional clerics and the leader in one side and the president and his camp on the other. While the leader's side is attacking the president's camp at full-stem; perhaps for president Ahmadi Nejad and his supporters a contemplation of a remarkable opportunity they have is a must.