Weird things are going on in Iran. During our two-week visit last November we were amazed at how relaxed the place seemed to be (the women on our tour were warned to keep their heads covered even if they did no more than to step onto the hotel balcony) yet there was no public prayer that we could see, and our tour guide even felt free to tell jokes jokes about Ahmadinejad.

Now comes this:

(ABC News) Iran’s powerful clerics have accused associates of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of witchcraft…

In recent days, some 25 confidants of Ahmadinejad and his controversial but loyal chief of staff Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei have been arrested and charged with being “magicians.”

One aide, Abbas Ghaffari, has reportedly been accused of summoning a genie, who caused his interrogator to have a heart attack…

The religious establishment has long had its eye on Mashaei, the man behind much of Ahmadinejad’s political and religious thinking, because he practices an alternative Messianic –though no less fundamentalist — version of Islam…

Mashaei promotes a nationalist, “Iran first” ideology rather than the cleric’s “Islam first” dogma, and advocates a religious and political view that marginalizes the clergy. Both ideas are popular with Iran’s middle class, further making him a threat…

Last month Ahmadinejad loyalists began circulating a DVD documentary anticipating the imminent return of the Hidden Imam Mahdi, a religious event comparable to the way Christians anticipate the second coming of Christ.

Young Iranians are much more liberal than their revolutionary parents — but this may be sending the message that while you may not like the Ayatollahs, they’re better than a bunch of witches.

As for the messiah stuff — remember the Ballard Billboard: