[AdmSmith]

EXPEDIENCY COUNCIL CHAIRMAN WANTS NEW PEOPLE ON THE SCENE.

Ayatollah Ali-Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani said in an 18 October meeting with parliamentarians and other officials that new people must enter the political scene, ISNA reported. Addressing the Iran Specialists Association (Majma-yi Motakhasesan-i Iran) and several parliamentary representatives, he said, "The interests of the state necessitate that the world should feel that Iran has the potential to produce capable individuals." Hashemi-Rafsanjani indicated that he would serve as president again (he was president in 1989-97) only with great reluctance: "I am a soldier of the revolution and I am willing to spend the rest of my life serving the revolution and Islam," Hashemi-Rafsanjani said. "I am quite prepared to serve in any position that the state and people feel I will be of some use. However, I prefer other honest and capable individuals to assume the responsibilities of the chief executive." Hashemi-Rafsanjani added that the current international and domestic climates make the management of the country difficult. BS

source: RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 198, Part III, 19 October 2004

[nuconvert]

"I prefer other honest and capable individuals to assume the responsibilities of the chief executive"

By "other", he tries to include himself in that description?
Well I prefer other people too. Ones who aren't mullahs, for a start.