An Iranian man holds portraits of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (R) and supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

:: In an uncommon escalation of the brewing power struggle within the different wings in Iran, former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad disclosed the size of Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei’s fortune estimated at $800 billion toman, the equivalent of about $190 bln, accusing him of stealing people’ money and advancing oppression to silence critics.

The dolatebahar website, associated with Ahmadinejad, published two lengthy letters on Sunday from Ahmadinejad addressing Khamenei, criticizing the acquisition of some $190 bln in illegal ways that are not subject to financial control by the institutions of the Supreme Leader.

According to Ahmadinejad, these funds were appropriated to institutions under the control of the leader’s office, counting the Benayad 15 Khordad Foundation, the Benayad Mistaathafen Foundation, the Stad Agri Ferman Imam Center, the Revolutionary Guard Cooperative Benyad Taawon Sibeh, the army cooperative Benayad Artash , the Basij Cooperation Niyad Basij cooperation, the Ministry of Defense Cooperative Benayad Cooperative for Defense Ministries and the Khomeini Charitable Committee Khimtah Imded Imam Khomeini.

In one of the letters, former Iranian president stated that the general popular discontent of the performance of the regime is severe, dangerous and expanding quickly, asking: “How can we be silent when we see how people and youth are undergoing injustice and repression by the judiciary and security agencies simply for criticizing and protesting?”

The former hardliner president assessed that “over the past decades, three policies, along with many failures, have led to the aggregation of problems, crises and public dissatisfaction: the oppression and the security environment in the country, and the second is claiming that the situation of all countries is worse than ours in Iran so that everyone should be quiet and not criticize, thirdly the lack of transparency in important matters and hiding the important issues from the people.”

This unprecedented escalation by the former Iranian president came as a result of the arrest of two of his assistances during the past few days, who are: Esfandiar Rahim Mashai and Hamid Baka’i on charges of corruption.

The case of the arrest of Hamid Baka’i, a former assistant to Iran’s president acting as executive affairs chief who was sentenced to 15 years in prison, sparked controversy among the regime, especially after exposing the main reason for his imprisonment, which revolves around his differences with the Revolutionary Guards about the disappearance of millions of euros that were assigned for the intervention of the Quds forces in African countries.

Ahmadinejad’s supporters accuse the head of the Iranian judiciary, Ayatollah Sadiq Amali Larijani, who is close to the leader and his influential brothers in the regime, of theft, corruption and looting public money, calling the Iranian judiciary an “oppressor” and a “deviant.”

In another letter addressed to Khomeini, Ahmadinejad called for early elections, the removal of the chief justice and the release of protestors to end the political crisis in the country, prompting the hardline to imprison him or put him under house arrest.