The president and his allies have been fiercely criticized by conservative politicians, hard-line senior clerics and the elite Revolutionary Guards in the past weeks for trying to obtain wide-ranging powers.
Ahmadinejad took control of OPEC’s second biggest crude producer’s lucrative oil and gas industry after dismissing the oil minister earlier this month as part of a plan to merge eight ministries, including oil and energy to slim down size of the government.
It was was also announced that Ahmadinejad would represent Iran at the next Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries meeting on June 8 in Vienna. Iran holds the one-year rotating presidency of OPEC.
“Ahmadinejad announced that he will not take part at the OPEC meeting in June ... and will appoint one of his cabinet ministers to attend the meeting,” IRNA quoted senior oil ministry official Shojaoddin Bazargani.
Ahmadinejad’s decision to act as a caretaker of the oil ministry had a clear but indirect message for the president’s hard-line rivals — a desire to control Iran’s biggest source of revenue as part of a plan to gain more power.
Analysts say that Ahmadinejad is playing a risky game that might weaken his position.
“Not attending the OPEC meeting means a blow to Ahmadinejad,” a former official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters.
“Controlling the petrodollars will give him an upper hand to win the fight against his rivals.”
That is of real concern in an oil-dependent country, where international sanctions have been imposed over its disputed nuclear program. Because of sanctions, Iran is struggling to boost oil production capacity at its ageing oilfields to just over four million barrels per day (bpd).
Despite a hard-line constitutional watchdog body saying Ahmadinejad had no legal right to the post the president has shown no sign of retreating from personally overseeing the oil ministry.
 

A caretaker of Iran’s oil ministry would have little impact on its oil supply policy, as the final say in major policy issues rests with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“The oil minister or the caretaker have no power to change the major pillars of Iran’s energy policy and its OPEC policy,” said a former senior oil ministry official, who asked not to be named.
“Khamanei won’t let political infighting to have any impact on the country’s oil export policy and its main source of income.”
The government says by law the president has three months after removing a minister to introduce a new candidate to parliament. During that period he can act as caretaker himself or appoint someone to the post.
But the Guardian Council argues the law stipulates that ministers should retain their position unless they have been impeached by parliament.
Ahmadinejad struggled to impose his power over the strategic ministry even after his landslide electoral victory in 2005, when he failed to get his first three choices into the post due to parliamentary opposition. Head of parliament Ali Larijani is a staunch critic of Ahmadinejad’s economic policies.
Critics say Ahmadinejad’s move to cut fuel and food subsidies to save $100 billion on the state budget and to make Iran less vulnerable to any sanctions, has fueled inflation.
Frustration is simmering in the nation. Prices of most consumer goods have risen and many middle and lower-class Iranians already struggle to make ends meet.
Instead of ushering in the era of “economic prosperity” Ahmadinejad promised during his electoral campaign in 2005 and 2009, he presides over an Iran which struggles to balance its books.
A senior lawmaker said “the necessary funding by the government to pay subsidies is running into hurdles,” the Sharq newspaper quoted MP Gholamreza Mesbahi Moqaddam as saying.
“The government will face $12-17 billion of deficit to implement its cash subsidy plan with no solution in sight,” Mesbahi Moqaddam said.