TEHRAN - An aide to Iran's supreme leader called on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Saturday to "turn back to the main path", suggesting the Islamic state's highest power may be losing patience with the head of government.
The comments, in an interview with the semi-official Mehr news agency, come as pressure mounts on Ahmadinejad after he sacked several ministers and put himself in direct charge of the Oil Ministry -- a move his critics say was a power grab.
Ali Saeedi, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's representative to the Revolutionary Guards, concentrated most of his criticism on unnamed "elements" within Ahmadinejad's government, a reference to the president's closest aides who are the usual targets for hardline critics of the government.
"It is really flabbergasting how those who came into the political scene under the slogan of confronting the wealthy elite are nurturing a new undercurrent of elitism in their own shadow," Saeedi said.
