The official website of Iranian regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei published his recent speech where he warned various regime officials and entities regarding their criticism of regime President Ebrahim Raisi and his administration. “Whoever pushes the nation into being pessimistic about the country’s officials is, willingly or unwillingly, working in favor of the enemy!” he said on June 12 in unprecedented remarks.
While Khamenei’s orders usually rallied his loyalists, just one after his remarks were published on June 21, members of the regime’s Majlis (parliament) who are considered close to Khamenei were seen literally lashing at Raisi.
“Mr. Raisi! The prices of various goods are skyrocketing… Mr. Raisi, your lazy and tired bureaucratic system, engulfed with corruption and graft, is suffocating the country,” said Majlis member Ali Asghar Anabestani. Another Majlis member went even further and specifically targeted Khamenei. “Aside from our criticism of Khamenei himself, why should we be terrified of being disqualified if we voice critique about the apparatus associated to the Supreme Leader?” asked Hashem Sabaghian.
Naser Makarem Shirazi, a senior religious figure in the mullahs’ regime, also voiced strong criticism of Raisi’s administration. “People are fed up with high prices… Rent and mortgage rates are skyrocketing… People are angry and asking why are senior religious figures silent… while we have time and again issued warnings to the Raisi administration,” he said.
The question is why are the closest figures to Khamenei, even those handpicked for the “revolutionary Majlis” and the “young Hezbollahi administration,” lashing out at Raisi and Khamenei just one day after the regime leader’s latest warnings?
This is the same Khamenei that back in 2020 launched a major political purge and eliminated nearly all members of the faction associated to then regime president Hassan Rouhani. And just one day later Khamenei went one step further by eliminating former Majlis speaker Ali Larijani and Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of the regime’s first supreme leader Ruhollah Khomeini, disallowing them from taking part in the regime’s presidential election sham, thus paving the path for Raisi’s selection.
Again, the question is, why are the regime’s own officials turning up the heat on Khamenei and Raisi like never before? Why can’t Khamenei silence them?
These are clear indications that Khamenei’s strategy of investing on Raisi and grooming him as his successor has failed miserably. The regime’s Supreme Leader pursued two objectives in appointing Raisi as his president despite the latter’s long record of horrific executions and human rights violations:
- a) intimidate Iran’s restive society in order to quell all protests
- b) have Raisi provide hollow promises to the Iranian people to silence them for the time being
However, since the day after Raisi took office Iran has been witnessing a rising trend of protests and uprisings. Hossein Salami, head of the regime’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), has even described this continuing string of protests as the “epicenter of all enmities” against the mullahs’ regime. On the other hand, protesters across Iran from all walks of life are chanting “Death to Raisi!” on a daily basis.
This is a clear indication of Khamenei’s strategy reaching a dead-end, rendering a change in the balance of power inside Iran between the regime, and the Iranian people and their organized resistance. Khamenei is losing his previous hegemony, resulting in major unrest within his ranks and file. Even members of his office and inner circle are apathetic to Khamenei’s warnings and instructions.
“Appointing a serial murderer as president by [Khamenei] is a turning point for the mullahs’ regime, marking the downfall of the religious monarchy,” said Iranian Resistance leader Massoud Rajavi on August 3, 2021.
