Analysis by PMOI/MEK
Iran, September 5, 2019–Hashem Hashemzadeh Herisi, Iranian regime Supreme leader Ali Khamenei’s representative in Tabriz and a member of the Assembly of Experts, acknowledged that the people “dislike” the mullahs’ regime. Hashemzadeh minimized the people’s real feelings against himself and the rest of the mullahs and their cronies in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). Otherwise he had to say that "the people hate us and would have overthrown our regime overnight if given the chance."
The fact that systematic corruption and plundering the people are two sides of the same coin in the ruling regime in Tehran has become common sense in Iran.
The people’s contempt for the political elite and their well-connected few in combination with the dead-end that the regime faces has led some authorities to acknowledge the way ordinary Iranians feel for them. In many cases, they try to acknowledge part of the problem in an attempt to minimize the catastrophe they have created and exonerate themselves and their factions, directing the finger of accusation to other officials.
On August 28, Herisi referred to the economic and societal crises that the regime faces. “Solving these problems from the bottom up has a dear price. The price is the destruction of Islam, the revolution, the clergy and Iran,” he said.
This is a clear reference to a potential popular uprising that would endanger the whole regime.
“The people dislike us and are not satisfied with us,” Herisi added, quoting Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the mullahs' regime, saying: “Right now, the Islamic aspect of our regime is destroyed. [Khomeini] says you should be afraid of the day when the people learn the truth about your nature. Fear from an explosion that will destroy us all. Don’t be proud, fear the people.”
Emad Afroogh, a member of the regime’s Majlis (parliament) and close to Khamenei’s faction, warns authorities that the age of empty promises is over.
“The people don’t want pain killers, empty promises and compassion,” he said according to the IRGC-affiliated Fars news agency. “Today, the people in our society, when they compare their livelihoods with those of officials, they come to the conclusion that nobody is caring for them and they are somehow abandoned. The people face rising prices every day and officials try to pacify them with empty promises. How can they trust the authorities in such a situation?” Emad Afroogh concluded.
Elias Hazrati, a former commander of the IRGC and current chair of the Majlis Economic Commission says that “in terms of the economy, most of the pressure is on the bottom percentiles.”
“We need to pay more attention to the people’s livelihoods, alleviating their economic difficulties, and work to solve domestic differences that are wearing out the regime from within,” he added.
