Two important messages emerged Wednesday about the political standing of Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the Iranian power-broker whose support Iran’s opposition movement had counted on to continue its struggle against the hard-line establishment.

Rafsanjani, in a statement posted to his Persian-language website, insisted that the Islamic Republic remained in the grip of danger, likening the ongoing discord over the reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Iran’s early 20th century constitutional revolution, a years-long period of instability.

“The Constitutional Revolution may repeat itself and this is a real threat,” he said in remarks he made during a meeting with clergy. “The odds are that certain people are conspiring against the Islamic Republic in the name of supporting Islam, revolution and the system.”

Faezeh Hashemi, Rafsanjani’s outspoken daughter, dismissed speculation that her father had watered down his views as part of some back-room compromise to sell out Iran’s self-described Green movement.

“Under the present circumstances, any compromise is out of the question without taking into account people’s rights and the damage inflicted on them,” she told the Persian-language news website Aftabnews.ir in an interview. “I ask everyone to be patient and let Mr Rafsanjani go ahead with his own method. Since the Green Movement and Mr. Rafsanani share their demands, he could be a member of the Green Movement of the Iranian people.”

Rafsanjani’’s loyalties came under question last week when a committee he headed issued a statement describing the the post-election unrest as “sedition,” apparently adopting of the terminology used by hard-liners close to Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.