Reporting by PMOI/MEK
Iran, July 14, 2020—In a videoconference on Sunday, July 12, the Iranian regime’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei warned the new hand-picked members of the Majlis about the looming the social crisis the regime is facing.
Khamenei warned that internal conflicts can lead to the danger of a new uprisings and said, “The atmosphere of conflict at the top of the establishment is harmful and upsetting for the public opinion.” Khamenei added that “despite of differences of opinions, we must stand hand in hand against the enemy and speak common words.”
Khamenei meant to put a lid on the rivalries between different regime factions lest his entire regime be swept by its real nemesis, the oppressed people of Iran, and their organized resistance movement.
In the meantime, he also expressed his satisfaction for “showing the sensitivity of the 11th parliament to the issues of the revolution” and called the new Majlis as “one of the strongest and most revolutionary parliaments after the revolution.”
It is worth noting that the new Majlis is mostly dominated by figures close to the supreme leader. The new chairman of the parliament is Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, a former commander of the Revolutionary Guards and a key orchestrator of the suppression of popular protests.
Khamenei also acknowledged that, in its last year, the government of Hassan Rouhani is under heavy pressure and said: “The fourth year of the government, especially when it’s the second term, is a very sensitive year, and usually in this year, if the government does not care enough, things will get weaker and all the governments have a duty to work until the last day.”
Khamenei also called 2020 a crucial year and said: “In the critical situation of the last year of the government and the first year of the parliament, the two legislature and executive branches must manage the atmosphere in a way that does not harm the important jobs of the country.”
Acknowledging the “bitter reality”
Khamenei tacitly admitted that his regime has failed to manage the coronavirus outbreak. “The bitter truth is that the country is moving away from its initial success against coronavirus,” he said.
The truth, however, is that there was no success to begin with. Since the beginning of the outbreak, the regime has launched a propaganda campaign to downplay the crisis by publishing fake statistics. Khamenei’s strategy of falsified numbers and statistics failed due to daily information published by the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), obtained by its network of supporters and activists inside Iran.
Previously, Rouhani had claimed that the regime had managed to overcome the coronavirus crisis better than other countries. But Khamenei inevitably confessed to regime’s defeat by calling it the “bitter reality.”
Regime officials refrained from imposing quarantines on cities, calling it a conspiracy of the anti-revolutionists to shut down the economy. Rouhani explicitly said that if 2-3 million people die from coronavirus, it would be better than 30 million hungry people take to the streets, clearly expressing his fear of the potential of nationwide protests re-emerging.
With the crisis reaching a disastrous scale, Khamenei tried in his speech to shrug off all responsibility and blame the people for the spread of the coronavirus by saying, “Some people don’t even do simple things like wearing a mask.”
Deadlock and stalemate situation
In his remarks, Khamenei admitted that he had no solution for the coronavirus outbreak or any of the other crises his regime is facing. Instead of mentioning the billions of dollars of wealth he could use to help people in the quarantine time, he deceptively called on the population to “pray for the country’s relief and to help the deprived and poor.”
Khamenei also had nothing to say about the regime’s economic and social crises except: “If we want to discuss key issues, production is a serious issue, employment is a key issue, inflation is a serious issue, the management of the monetary and financial system is one of the key issues, an economy that is not dependent on oil is a serious issue.”
Interestingly, he said nothing of the “serious issue” of corruption that is riddling his entire regime, including the judiciary branch that is ostensibly tasked with keeping the country’s financial infrastructure devoid of graft, bribery, and embezzlement.
What Khamenei said in his remarks to the new members of Majlis (as well as what he left out) paint a complete picture of a regime that has run out of maneuvering space in face of mounting crises. Khamenei’s weakness and hesitation are in fact due to his losing grip on a society that is in an explosive state.
The explosive state of the Iranian society is something that is being discussed abundantly in state media and among officials these days.
One of the regime’s experts said on Sunday, July 12, in Sharq Daily: “In the current situation, if the pressure on the society is removed, there will be an unlimited overflow of demands. If the pressure is maintained, we will have riots again. We are in a stalemate situation, which means that maintaining or moving from the situation will both cause problems.”
The Mostaghel Daily wrote: “The coronavirus will end one day and at that time this injured army of people have nothing more to lose. When its anger erupts, it will fight to complete destruction and will become what we don’t want.”
The Jahan-e Sanat daily wrote: “If they do not think of a solution, there will be protests in the future that we can no longer stop.”
