Marking the first year of Iranian regime President Ebrahim Raisi’s tenure it is interesting to see that the mullahs’ state media are not resorting to any brouhaha to boast about his achievements. The reason is simple: there is nothing to boast about.
In fact, we are seeing an opposite trend. The regime’s Majlis (parliament), which the mullahs’ Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei went to great lengths to unify its ranks in the sham elections of 2021, the members are acknowledging the Raisi cabinet’s numerous failures in a long list of different fields.
“The government is taking steps like a person on a treadmill”
There is no moving forward,” said Majlis member Mojtaba Zonnour on Tuesday, August 2. Zonnour is known as a senior figure of the pro-Khamenei faction in the regime’s parliament.
“We are placing responsibilities in the hands of individuals who are incompetent, tired, and refuse to move forward,” said another Majlis member by the name of Karim Hosseini on Tuesday. This goes against Raisi’s campaign promises, he explains.
“As we speak 65 percent of the country’s liquidity is placed is less than one percent of the existing bank accounts,” said Hossein Mirzaei, another Majlis member who made these remarks on Sunday, August 1. Such a statement debunks all of Raisi’s claims about his cabinet’s alleged economic accomplishments.
The regime’s Majlis is now becoming a scene of such criticism on a regular basis. It is worth noting that on June 21, Khamenei specifically warned about any strong remarks against Raisi and his cabinet. “Anyone who leaves the people disappointed and unconfident about the country’s officials is working in favor of the enemy… knowingly or unknowingly!” he explained.
His warning apparently fell on deaf ears. And the reason why was vividly explained by Zonnour himself. “Majlis members are facing criticism and harsh remarks from their constituents,” he said.
Raisi truly has nothing to praise about from his first-year report card for the regime’s state media to praise. Even the claim of Raisi containing Iran’s Covid crisis has been a hoax as the country is now facing its seventh peak. The only “accomplishment” for Raisi has been the billions of dollars he plundered from the Iranian people by forcing them to purchase the regime’s fake, uncorroborated, and unverified coronavirus vaccines.
While Raisi has failed in reviving Iran’s economy, containing inflation, providing protection from floods and other natural disasters, and protecting the environment among others, nothing is similar to his utter incompetence in his main mission: clamping down on the society and containing protests with an iron fist. This signals a strategic failure for Khamenei as it was the main reason why he had Raisi appointed and selected as the regime’s president in the first place.
Despite the fact that Raisi has increased the regime’s crackdown measures and executions across the country, protests and uprisings against inflation and other economic difficulties have escalated. This is mainly due to the fact that Iran has an organized resistance movement in the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) and its affiliated network of “Resistance Units” checkered throughout the country that are leading a campaign against the regime’s clampdown. More protesters across the country are braving the risks and taking to Iran’s streets chanting “Death to Raisi!”
Raisi is Khamenei’s last arrow in his quiver in the face of Iran’s escalating social protests as the country’s society is being described by analysts as a powder keg. Raisi, known best for his direct role in the summer 1988 prison massacre of over 30,000 political prisoners, is again resorting to daily executions, amputating fingers, and other horrific punishments in order to finalize the mission Khamenei bestowed upon him.
However, as the PMOI/MEK Resistance Units integrate and expand their campaign throughout Iran, they have been able to provide a beacon of hope in the face of Raisi’s harsh suppression. As Iranian Resistance Leader Massoud Rajavi said in his message back in August of 2021: “Inaugurating and appointing this murderer as president by the regime’s Supreme Leader is a turning point and a change of tracks for the mullahs, who are now headed further towards downfall and the overthrow of their religious reign.”
The end of Raisi’s first year in office should also signal to the West that their appeasement policy and long list of concessions to the mullahs’ regime, and their hardline president, have been to no avail. The West’s appeasement and engagement measures have only emboldened the Iranian regime to further expand their nuclear program and redoubling their violations of nuclear commitments.
As Raisi continues the regime’s crackdown inside Iran, the international community should hold him and the mullahs accountable, not succumb to Tehran’s demands and aggressions.
