Former President Mohammad Khatami says certain elements are trying to separate President Hassan Rohani from his supporters.

Khatami’s website reports that in a speech to the Tehran University Student Association, Khatami said the administration has inherited many problems but expressed every hope that the Rohani government will stay committed to all its promises.

The statement comes as the administration is being attacked by the ultra-conservative factions of the Islamic Republic and on the other hand it is also being criticized by some of their supporters.

The continued house arrest of MirHosein Mousavi, Zahra Rahnavard and Mehdi Karroubi and the administration’s failure to negotiate their release remains a sore point with many groups and figures who endorsed Rohani in his campaign for the presidency last June.

Khatami warned that opponents of the Rohani government are trying pretend that the government is “ineffective.” The former president stressed that the government’s path is far from an “easy level path” but he said, “We expect nothing more than commitment to the very slogans and approaches that people voted for.”

The endorsement of Mohammad Khatami and moderate cleric Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani were crucial to the victory of Hassan Rohani.

Radio Zamaneh