TEHRAN – Qolamhossein Karbaschi, the secretary general of the Servants of Reconstruction Party and a former mayor of Tehran, has said that reformism never had a leader in Iran, squashing the idea that Mohammad Khatami, the former president, is a leader of reformists.

“Leadership is not summarized in merely saying symbolically that Mr. Khatami is the organizational leader of reformism,” Karbaschi told the Kargozaran newspaper in an interview published on Tuesday.

“Khatami is a well-known person. He is respected and refined and is one of the best people who is active on the political front. But to lead a political current is a completely different thing. It needs organizational functions,” he opined.

“From the beginning, reformism has not had a leader. So I cannot say that it needs a new leader.”

“Leadership means to resolve a problem once there is one. If there is some shortcoming, removing it will be carried out by the leader of the current,” Karbaschi underlined.

“Mr. Khatami has never claimed to be the leader of the reform current. Neither has the reform current reached some unanimity on its leadership.”

“The groups within the reform current respect Mr. Khatami very much, but they have not agreed that in current circumstances he should be considered as the leader of the reform movement.

SP/PA