Analysis by PMOI/MEK
Iran, Sept. 11, 2018 – On September the 4th, Ahmad Jannati, Chairman of the Iranian regime’s Assembly of Experts, while trying to release Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei from responsibility regarding the economic downturn, advised Iranian authorities to “talk to the people” because “people are discontent.”
Jannati asked Iranian authorities to “give people the feeling” that the government “understands their pain and stands with them.” He further asked officials to tell the people that “they will solve their problems.”
Two days later, in a meeting with the Assembly of Experts, Khamenei criticized the mood of internal fighting between Iranian factions and said that “the virus of pessimism should not be promoted.”
He called the current situation “dangerous” and said: “The virus of pessimism about the government, the parliament, the Judiciary, and revolutionary bodies is bad.”
Iran’s Supreme Leader asked officials to “create trust” and said: “The people need to trust the governmental bodies including the Judiciary, the executive, and other bodies. It is needless to say that a big part of creating trust is the responsibility of these bodies themselves. It means that the government, the Judiciary and other bodies need to act in a way that creates trust among the people.”
So, Khamenei himself also asked for an injection of trust and optimism among the regime and Iranians.
Khamenei and Jannati aren’t the only ones who are advocating optimism and trust these days. Many Iranian regime officials are now trying to fill the rift between Iranians and the regime.
On September the 5th, Mostafa Rostami, Khamenei’s president of the “Leader’s Body in Universities” said: “Currently, the most important issue is an aggressive movement that is targeting all the resources of the society. It is trying to inject pessimism and distrust among different elements of the society.”
On the same day, Mohsen Pirhadi, one of the leaders of Khamenei’s faction, explained the problem even more clearly and said: “Both the moderates and conservatives have lost their popular support due to their numerous mistakes.”
On September the 5th, Arman newspaper also published an article contemplating the issue of distrust and pessimism towards the Iranian regime. It wrote: “The official players have lost their impact due to a chaos in the decision-making process… This process will impact swiftly the society. Currently, the Iranian society fears an economic downturn.”
Members of the Iranian parliament are also trying to show themselves concerned about the economic miseries of the Iranian people.
Mousavi Larigani, an Iranian MP, said: “The [Iranian] currency is in a crisis. Why should Iranians get their paychecks in rial but all their expenses be in dollars? Who is accountable for all this jobbery in the country? Let’s assume that all the stolen money is returned, can you imagine the damage that the Islamic Republic’s reputation takes?”
Mohammad Hassannejad, another Iranian MP, says: “It’s about inflation, [economic] downturn, economic disorder. When we wake up in the morning we don’t know what is going to happen in an hour.”
Chairman of Iran’s Assembly of Experts, Jannati, asked Iranian officials to inject hope and optimism, but it seems like nobody is heeding his advice. That’s because they know that the ship they are sitting in is sinking fast and there isn’t much hope for a rescue. So they try to separate themselves from the regime as much as possible to guarantee a possible future for themselves.
