On Monday, March 3, retirees of the Telecommunication Company of Iran (TCI) in various cities demonstrated their determination to confront the ruling mafia with slogans such as “We will not rest until we get our rights,” “The Imam’s Executive Headquarters has eaten our rights,” and “Our enemy is right here.” “Our enemy is right here” is one of the slogans repeated daily by people who are fed up with the oppression and plunder of the ruling mullahs. This slogan expresses the widespread anger and hatred towards the regime’s bloodthirsty supreme leader Ali Khamenei, the main enemy of the people.
The other side of the coin of the people’s anger and uprising is the regime’s fear and defection within its ranks, terrified of the flames of revolt igniting in the explosive conditions of society. The regime has experienced the anger and “fury” of the people in the uprisings of 2017-2018, 2019, and 2022, and is aware of the defection and turning away of its forces in these difficult times.
On March 1, the state-run Ham-Mihan newspaper wrote in its editorial: “Let us fear that the people will become angry. Let us fear that our children, friends, and families will also turn away from us. Let us fear that there will be those who cannot provide a dignified life for themselves…”
The state-run media outlet continues by pointing out the dangerous social effects of power outages and the closure of schools and factories, writing, “Let us fear that we cannot provide water and electricity to the people, and factories and even the government will be shut down. Let us fear that we build schools with great effort, but they are closed for more than 35 days during the first five months of the academic year.”
The acknowledgment of fear and dread of uprisings and social unrest is not limited to experts and state-run media; Friday prayer leaders, who are representatives of Khamenei in different cities, have also, in various ways, revealed the nightmare of fear at the top of the regime.
On February 28, Mohammad Bagher Mohammadi Laini, the Friday prayer leader and representative of Khamenei in Sari, expressed the fear of the people’s anger and the regime’s helplessness against resistance and the nation: “We must frighten the enemy, not be afraid of the enemy, and worse, that the enemy understands that we are afraid, and worse, that we let the enemy know that we are afraid, which unfortunately some people are telling foreigners and those abroad that, sir, we are empty, our hands are empty.”
While admitting to the fear of the people’s anger, the mullahs try to save face for the regime—which is caught in a whirlpool of crises—by resorting to empty and ridiculous slogans such as the regime’s “growth in the region!”
On February 28, Mohammad Kazem Modarresi, Khamenei’s Friday prayer leader in Yazd, said: “The enemy and Satan are trying to instill fear in the hearts of believers and instill promises of poverty and failure in their hearts. The country is in an extraordinary situation, despite the growth it has had in the region as a whole, and the enemy’s conspiracies have become more complex and the power of their agents has increased.”
The awareness of the risen people who say “Our enemy is right here” and “We can only get our rights on the streets” has struck intense fear into the hearts of the regime’s leaders and officials, which manifests in various forms. Everything indicates a revolutionary situation and crisis in society. The oppressed people do not want the oppressive rulers, and the crisis-ridden oppressors cannot govern. The enemy’s fear and trembling are understandable and foretell fundamental uprisings that will tear the regime of executioners apart.