Reporting by PMOI/MEK
Iran, March 22, 2021—In his yearly Nowruz address, Iranian regime supreme leader Ali Khamenei implicitly admitted that his regime is in a bad situation by complaining that some try to “create a negative impression… and show that we are headed for a dead end.”
Of course, there’s no need to put a negative spin on the regime’s conditions to realize that it is in a bad situation. Khamenei’s own remarks clearly showed that at the beginning of the Persian calendar year, the mullahs’ regime is engulfed in a multitude of unsolvable crises. While in previous years, Khamenei openly endorsed the so-called “reformist” maneuvers by some of the factions of the regime, this time, he stressed the need to unify the entire regime around a hardline narrative.
Khamenei also acknowledged that his regime has no room for maneuvering on the issue of its nuclear program. In recent months, the regime has been on a track of ramping up its violations of the nuclear accord. And in his Nowruz remarks, Khamenei stressed that the policy of nuclear infringement will continue. “The Americans must lift all sanctions. Then we will verify. If they have been really lifted, then we will return to our commitments,” Khamenei said.
While at face value, it seems that Khamenei is exuding power, the reality is in direct contrast to the picture he tries to depict. The mullahs’ regime is in a very fragile position, and any move that will suggest retreat of weakness will cause it to implode.
Khamenei also expressed hopelessness about a return to the pre-JCPOA era, where the appeasement policy dominated and the regime enjoyed major concessions from the West. “Some Americans are not even satisfied with the JPOA agreement, and I’ve heard them say that today’s conditions are much different from 2015, when the JCPOA was signed,” Khamenei said.
Khamenei’s remarks are a manifestation of the regime’s deadlock. On the one hand, the regime is faced with severe restrictions due to international sanctions. The drying up of oil sales and financial sanctions are restricting many things the regime considers vital to its survival, including funding its terrorist proxies, developing ballistic missiles, and continuing its nuclear program.
So the regime desperately needs to have the sanctions lifted. But to do so, it must take steps such as toning down its terror activities or its uranium enrichment. But any such move will send a signal of weakness that will be quickly picked up by an angry population of 80 million that have led several rounds of nationwide protests in the past years.
The regime has barely managed to contain public outrage through sheer violence and the iron fist of its security forces. Any sign of weakness on the international front will ripple back through its own ranks and open the way for more nationwide protests. That’s why the regime continues to carry out rocket attacks in Iraq, terrorist and spying activities in Europe, and uranium enrichment at home.
But continued confrontation with the international community will result in more sanctions against the regime, which will in turn force the regime to transfer that pressure to the people through destructive economic policies.
This, in essence, is the regime’s dead end: No matter which path it chooses, at the end will be standing a large population that is fed up from four decades of tyranny and corruption.
As Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), said in her Nowruz message, “[A] return to the previous balance of power is impossible and the regime will not be able to unwind. Its missile launches on Iraq and Saudi Arabia will not solve any of their problems either. So, whatever happens in the future, the outcome awaiting the regime would be the outburst of uprisings leading to its overthrow.”
