Expedient or not?

First Syria's Assad reportedly blows up (figuratively) at Iran's Ahmadinejad.

Now Ahmadinejad's leading rival has "erupted" into public disagreement on the economy:

Hashemi Rafsanjani, the president's most influential opponent, set the scene for a power struggle by telling Iranian journalists that Mr Ahmadinejad's "trial period is over". He said he would use his position as head of the expediency council, a state body empowered to set the Islamic regime's long-term goals, to reshape the government's economic policies.

Maybe expediency means something else in Farsi. (maybe it's the translator having a little fun at Iran's expense.) We should want to root for this guy.