Analysis by PMOI/MEK
Jan. 2, 2019 – In a recent interview with the Mostaghel newspaper, Faezeh Hashemi, daughter of the infamous Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, one of the founders of Islamic Republic, talked about Hassan Rouhani’s defeat and the collapse of the Iranian regime.
Hashemi’s statements were widely republished by media outlets affiliated with the so-called reformist faction of the Iranian regime, and pundits and personalities of this faction generally confirmed it.
“The collapse of legitimacy has already happened, and only a physical collapse has not happened, and chances are high that this happens,” Hashemi said in her interview.
“Mr. Rouhani talks as if he isn’t the president. Parts of these [matters] are in the jurisdiction of the government. He talks as if he is the opposition. You should be able to act! Who are you criticizing?” she said about the Iranian regime’s president’s lack of action and his comprehensive defeat.
About future elections in the Iranian regime and whether the Executives of Construction Party should introduce a candidate or even if she will participate in the elections at all, she said: “That’s a question for me too. Should we go again and vote? Should we still participate?… What’s the use [of it] when the elected [option] is one thing and the selections and approaches don’t match with the vote? What practical results did we have from this vote since 2013/2014 and upwards.”
Hossein Ghazian, a University professor and former aide to Ali Akbar Hashemi and Mohammad Khatami, explains the meaning of Faezeh Hashemi’s “collapse” saying: “First, we should make a distinction between political collapse and sociological collapse… [the Iranian] society is collapsing sociologically. And it manifests itself in the form of rage, protest, complains, concerns… and currently the society is holding together under the pressure of the government.”
Abdollah Momeni, another Iranian moderate, tweeted a few days ago: “There is no doubt that the current political situation in the society is not normal and cannot continue. The moderation narrative is defeated. The government is practically shut down and, the JCPOA and foreign policy, its only achievements, are also defeated. This government won’t do anything to seriously change the situation of the people anymore or bring a meaningful change to politics in favor of democracy.”
In his speech Hassan Khomeini, the grand son of Islamic Republic’s founder, Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini, also said: “The foundation of a society is its people’s satisfaction.”
“There is no guarantee that we remain while others go,” he warned.
Mohammadreza Tajik, former deputy of education in the ministry of intelligence and senior advisor to former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami, compared today’s Iran with the Titanic ship that is trapped in a whirlpool and is sinking.
“Today’s Iran is not spirited. To a point that every community, individual and institution is leaving its main and intrinsic functionality,” Tajik added in an interview with Etemad online website.
Such statements by prominent figures of the moderate faction in the Iranian ruling elite show that the reform project has reached its end.
These very same days, exactly one year ago, Iranians took to the streets and famously chanted “Reformists, conservatives! The game is over!”
Over the past 12 months, a single week hasn’t passed where some sort of protest and demonstration has not taken place in Iran. From truckers, steel and sugar refinery workers, and farmers to teachers and students, virtually every Iranian group and community has expressed its discontent with the current political structure.
Warnings of personalities from the so-called moderate faction on the anniversary of last year’s wide-spread protests, may be a last attempt to rescue the regime where all current factions in Tehran have great economic and political stakes in.
