TEHRAN - Former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani will discuss the current political crisis with senior clerics in the religious city of Mashad in northeastern Iran, state media reported Sunday.

“I will hold talks with the high-ranking clerics over the current developments,” Rafsanjani told Mehr news agency upon arrival in the Mashad airport.

Rafsanjani’s speech at the Friday prayer ceremony in the Tehran University provoked controversy within Iran’s political circles.

Rafsanjani’s remarks that the country was in a crisis angered many conservatives, who accused him of misusing the Friday prayer ceremony to back the opposition led by Mir-Hossein Moussavi.

His comment that no Islamic rulership could be established without popular consent was interpreted by conservative clerics as criticism of the country’s political system.

One senior cleric and member of the constitutional oversight panel accused Rafsanjani of ignoring Islamic principles.

“People do not bring legitimacy to a government, but in an Islamic system, the legitimacy is solely given by God,” Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi said.

According to the constitution approved after the 1979 revolution, the Islamic political system in Iran is based on the Velayat Faqih system - Guardianship of the Islamic Jurists - which gives the supreme leader authority over all elected institutions.

After the death of the Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in June 1989, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was appointed by the Experts’ Assembly, the country’s highest clergy body, as supreme leader.

Although president and parliament deputies are elected by the people, the supreme leader has the final say on all state affairs and only the Experts’ Assembly, currently headed by Rafsanjani, is authorised to supervise his activities.

Due to the support of Ayatollah Khamenei for Ahmadinejad and Rafsanjani’s support for the reformist movement in general - and Moussavi in particular - there is speculation of differences between the country’s two top clerics.

Rafsanjani’s presence at the Friday prayer was also an occasion for opposition supporters to demonstrate publicly again.

While thousands of mainly Moussavi supporters gathered in front of the prayer venue, hundreds of thousands marched in nearby streets.

Police were again forced to use tear gas against demonstrators who shouted “Death to Dictator”. After clashes, several protestors were reportedly arrested.

Rafsanjani also called for an immediate release of more than 100 political prisoners, including former officials, who were arrested and detained following the June 12 presidential election.

The protestors accuse the government of fraud and do not acknowledge the re-election of President Ahmadinejad.

Demonstrators Friday also shouted slogans against Russia and China, two of the main allies of Ahmadinejad.

They targeted Russia because Moscow was one of the first to acknowledge Ahmadinejad’s re-election, and berated China for the deadly unrest between Uighurs and Han Chinese during which almost 200 Chinese Muslims were reportedly killed in the far-western part of the country.