Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accuses Iran speaker's family of corruption

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused the parliament speaker's family of corruption on Sunday, turning a long-standing rivalry between two of Iran's most powerful figures into a face-to-face feud, months before an election, Reuters reported.

Addressing parliament to defend one of his ministers against impeachment, Ahmadinejad went on the attack, playing astonished lawmakers a recorded conversation with the brother of the speaker that he said implicated the whole family in corruption.

Speaker Ali Larijani is a likely frontrunner to succeed Ahmadinejad at a June election but a financial corruption scandal could damage his standing among voters struggling with an economy battered by Western economic sanctions.

Under Larijani's chairmanship, parliament has been hostile to Ahmadinejad for most of his second four-year term and on Sunday it voted to dismiss Labor Minister Abdolreza Sheikholeslami over his decision to appoint Saeed Mortazavi, a former prosecutor accused of links to the deaths of prisoners, to a new job.

Ahmadinejad played what he said was a recording of a conversation between Mortazavi and Fazel Larijani, the speaker's brother, that proved the family had used the prominence of the five Larijani brothers for economic gain.

But the recording was inaudible and Ahmadinejad read out what he said was a summary.

He said Fazel Larijani had implied to Mortazavi that he could use his brothers' influence to remove obstacles in return for involvement in some business endeavors.

Having served two consecutive terms, Ahmadinejad cannot run in the June election, but analysts say he may try to maintain his influence even after leaving office.

Mortazavi was suspended from his judicial post over the torture deaths of three protesters in custody after the 2009 presidential election, which the opposition claimed was rigged in Ahmadinejad's favor, bringing huge crowds onto the streets.