Iranian regime supreme leader Ali Khamenei did everything in his power to control the crisis resulting from the death of regime president Ebrahim Raisi and to prevent the great damage resulting from it. Knowing that the Majlis (parliament) was a potential and actual center of crisis, he refrained from purging the speaker of the parliament and, contrary to the current balance in the parliament, ordered Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf to remain as speaker for another year.
Khamenei had expressed his continuous concern from the very first days of the formation of the new parliament that the “sweetness” of this purified parliament might turn into bitterness due to “starting fights and enemy-pleasing hostilities.” In his message for the inauguration of the new term, he also reminded the newcomers: “In the parliament, do not waste the short period of responsibility in useless media competitions and harmful political disputes, otherwise (efforts) will be wasted, and this will be a great loss.”
Perhaps Khamenei thought that by engineering the elections and issuing threats and warnings, he could at least control the crisis for a while, until the time of the upcoming presidential election. In this regard, we had previously said that with the appointment of Ghalibaf, the crisis has not gone away; it has only been temporarily swept under the rug, only to erupt more severely a little later. But surprisingly, the brewing crisis could not stay under the rug and erupted with speed and intensity within just one or two days. This crisis surfaced from the very first day of the parliament’s formation and during the voting for the election of the parliament’s presidency. Because 24 invalid votes appeared as a sign of serious opposition to the will of the supreme leader, indicating a crisis lurking for the newly formed parliament.
A look at the tumultuous session of the parliament on Thursday, May 30, shows the intensity of this crisis:
According to regime media, the open session of the parliament became tense due to a verbal altercation between some representatives over the approval of Gholamreza Tajgardoun’s credentials… Mehrdad Goudarzvand and Reza Taghipour were shouting so loud that at one point, one of the MPs put a hand on Taghipour’s mouth and several people pushed him out of the building.
Malek Shariati said: Tajgardan told Alireza Salimi, a member of the presidium of the parliament, “I will tear you to pieces!”
Cleric Hamid Rasai addressed Ghalibaf, saying: “Up there in the presidium, in front of the representatives, a gentleman threatened Mr. Shariati and Mr. Salimi, saying, ‘I won’t let you reach your home tonight!’ What does this mean? Where are we?”
Hamid Rasaee continued his protests, pointing to vote-rigging and manipulation of votes, and sarcastically told Ghalibaf: “In the closed session, you simplify the issue a lot, saying ‘Friends, nothing happened, just one representative was replaced, that’s all!’… It’s like saying, ‘Sir, 3,000 billion embezzlements happened, it’s nothing!’… It wasn’t one representative who was replaced, the votes of the representatives were manipulated, and not just one or two, but 40 in one instance.”
Reports from regime media also indicate the scandal of fraud in the counting of votes for electing the parliament’s presidium. This fraud became clear in the recount of votes, resulting in the change of the presidium’s composition.
The strategic blow of Raisi’s death and its crisis-inducing effects are very serious, and Khamenei cannot cover them up.
Ghalibaf ‘s speakership to control the crisis in the parliament has backfired. This crisis is not limited to parliament and has engulfed the entire regime.