TEHRAN, Nov 16: A sweeping purge of officials by Iran’s new hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is badly damaging the country, political rival and top official Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani warned on Wednesday.

In his most thinly-veiled and harsh criticism yet of Mr Ahmadinejad — the shock winner of the June presidential election – Mr Rafsanjani said a continuing cleanout of moderate officials was also making Iran vulnerable on the international scene.

“Today some are calling into question the actions of the past, and are enacting a policy of purges, a policy of general banishment and the sidelining of competent people,” said Mr Rafsanjani, a pragmatic conservative and former president.

“These people are muddying others, and if we let them do so, they will call into question the achievements of the government and the revolution,” said Mr Rafsanjani, who ahead of the election was the favourite to win back the presidency. The senior cleric is still the head of the Expediency Council, Iran’s top political arbitration body.

Mr Rafsanjani, who has already attacked the new government for a worsening of international tensions over Iran’s disputed nuclear programme, also said he worried that national unity had already been badly damaged during Iran’s dramatic shift to the right.

“Such attitudes will allow the enemies to reach their objectives,” the IRNA quoted Mr Rafsanjani as telling a gathering of prayer leaders.—AFP