Wikileaks: Ahmadinejad grooming Mashaei to 'replace him in 2013'?

C O N F I D E N T I A L DUBAI 000023

6. (SBU)...  Ahmadinejad's stubborn defense of Mashaei bespeaks his importance as a key advisor for the increasingly isolated president; he also has emerged as a spokesman for the Ahmadinejad administration. Ahmadinejad has even told press that he would gladly serve as Vice-President in a Mashaei administration, prompting many to speculate that Ahmadinejad seeks to have Mashaei replace him in 2013.... 

8. (C) The criticism of Mashaei, and Ahmadinejad by association, is both real and opportunistic. Ahmadinejad's hardline backers bristle at Mashaei's presence in his government and time again beseech him to dump him.... The IRGC newspaper Sobh-e Sadegh a week later sent Ahmadinejad the same message-that he should abandon Mashaei...... Ahmadinejad's opponents use the president's relationship with Mashaei for mockery and to score political points....

13. (C) COMMENT: Mashaei's presence in the Ahmadinejad government and the criticism he elicits illustrates some of the ongoing factional divisions in Tehran. That Larijani and other more moderate principlists use Mashaei to badger Ahmadinejad is not surpising; these camps have been jockeying for position since the 2005 presidential election campaign. More interesting is the criticism from Ahmadinejad's hardline supporters. These hardliners still rely on the traditional clergy for a patina of Islamic legitimacy, and the clerical class' near universal distaste for Mashaei's version of Islam contributes to the hardline animosity to Ahmadinejad. To date, the criticism of Mashaei has stopped short of attacking Ahmadinejad directly, but his backers seem increasingly weary of Mashaei's antics and Ahmadinejad's patience for them. Ahmadinejad, who reportedly believes Mashaei is merely misunderstood, seems doggedly determined to retain his chief of staff even in the face of protests from his base. It was only with Khamenei's direct intervention that Ahmadinejad grudgingly retracted Mashaei's elevation to first vice president; it seems that to depose Mashaei, his critics may need to enlist the Supreme Leader once again. END COMMMENT.