However, long-term tensions between Mr Ahmadinejad and the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei have tainted Mr Rahim-Mashaei's reputation among some conservative elements.

BBC: Middle East

But only two days before the event, it was announced that Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, would make the opening address.

ECONOMIST: Islam��s political football

What this means is that the Obama administration - now working through congressional proxies - is still trying to cut a deal with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Ali Khamenei.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: The new, improved Obama

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, refused to see them.

ECONOMIST: Iraq, Iran and the United States

For now, he seems also to have the backing of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a cleric anointed by the late Ayatollah Khomeini, the founding father of a revolutionary theocratic Iran.

ECONOMIST: Iran: The problem of Persian pride | The

Iranian leaders have maintained that their regime is prohibited by Islamic law from acquiring a nuclear weapon, and proscribed from doing so by a fatwa that was issued years ago by current Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

FORBES: Some Unanswered Questions On Iran

Ali Velayati, who was foreign minister from 1981-97, and remains a top adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has publicly declared that Iran should accept the proposal, which calls for an initial six-week period of preliminary talks, during which Iran would forego any expansion of its enrichment programme in exchange for a freeze on new sanctions.

ECONOMIST: Iran��s confrontation with the West

Karim Sadjapour, an analyst for the International Crisis Group, says Khamenei's action put more power in the hands of Iran's former president, Ali Akbar Rafsanjani, whom Ahmadinejad defeated in last June's election.

NPR: Iran's New President Stirs Political Turmoil