TEHRAN, Iran — Iran's Principlists kept themselves at the top of the pyramid of power through former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his circle of associates. Now, however, this same circle is harshly attacking its former allies and even some pillars of the political establishment, so much so that some Principlist factions have asked for probes into some of its actions.

Ahmadinejad is a staple of Iranian politics. Whether in office or sitting at home, he is always hungry for publicity.

The former president was planning to run for a third term in the May 19 elections, but was disqualified by the Guardian Council. Considering that many of his administrations’ officials were involved in the campaign of conservative cleric Ebrahim Raisi, there was a general sense in Iran that Raisi’s platform was aligned with Ahmadinejad's. Ahmadinejad released a video message on May 15, just a few days before the elections, officially announcing that he did not support any of the six candidates despite the presence of some of his former aides in a certain candidate’s campaign.

Hamid Baghaei, Ahmadinejad’s onetime vice president for executive affairs, and Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, his adviser and closest confidant, have both stayed loyal to the former president. Baghaei, who was also disqualified from running in the May election, wrote Ahmadinejad’s name on the ballot in front of cameras on election day. Having been arrested in June 2015, Baghaei was once again detained on July 9 this year. On July 16, judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei disclosed some of the charges against him, including embezzlement and collusion over government contracts. Ejei added, “The defendant was given 2 million euros at his disposal, which [was allocated for something] else, but there is no record of that money anywhere.”