Iran: The Advancement Of An Alternative And The Isolasion Of A Regime – OpEd

The death of Ebrahim Raisi was a major strategic blow for Khamenei and disrupted all his plans to deal with the deep and widespread social dissatisfaction and the succession issue following his own death. 

After Raisi’s death, Khamenei was forced to allow the approval of Masoud Pezeshkian’s candidacy.  Pezeshkian had previously been disqualified by the Guardian Council for parliamentary representation. Due to the people of Iran boycotting the government’s election show,   this move was to save  Khamenei’s faction from isolation by allowing the defeated regime faction to participate in the election.

Masoud Pezeshkian was not Khamenei’s desired candidate for the presidency. . However, due to the divisions within the so-called principlist faction and the support of the so-called reformist faction of the government for Pezeshkian, Khamenei was forced to accept him out of fear of another uprising.

The notion that the theocratic regime ruling Iran, by allowing Khamenei to approve Masoud Pezeshkian’s candidacy who is the weakest individuals of the regime’s defeated faction known as government reformists, and his subsequent presidency, represents a retreat from oppressive and terrorist policies is naive and foolish.

Masoud Pezeshkian said in a live interview on November 27, 2014: "At the beginning of the revolution, I was responsible for cleansing. Hijab was not yet a topic, but I made it mandatory in universities and hospitals." He continued in this interview, saying: "We closed the universities. We started the cultural revolution and the closure of universities." (Hamshahri newspaper, June 30, 2024)

When Masoud Pezeshkian was approved by the Guardian Council for the presidential candidacy, he explicitly stated: "We are not supposed to write a new program or announce new policies in the country." He emphasized that any government that comes to power must implement Raisi's government program. Pezeshkian also said during a speech promoting his candidacy at Tehran University: "I am devoted to Khamenei’s leadership."

Therefore, he is not a reformist but a submissive individual to Khamenei. Khamenei, during Pezeshkian’s endorsement ceremony, considered him valid (acceptable) only as long as he does not deviate from the regime's policies and remains anti-imperialist. If he disobeys the policies dictated by Khamenei, he will face the fate of Abolhassan Banisadr, Iran’s first president, whom Khomeini removed from office and ordered his arrest and punishment.

Masoud Pezeshkian’s message to Hassan Nasrallah, the Secretary-General of Hezbollah in Lebanon, emphasizing "support for the resistance" (proxy groups) rooted in "the principles of the Islamic Republic and Khomeini's ideals" indicates that the policies and strategies of the Velayat-e Faqih system remain unchanged.

Forty-five years of the Velayat-e Faqih regime’s rule in Iran and its deceptive and populist games of moderation and reformism to deceive the international community have been nothing but lies. In the nationwide uprising of 2018, the people of Iran, with the slogan "Reformist, principlist, the game is over," put an end to these calculated regime game to prolong the Western appeasement policy.

The decisive boycott of the regime's presidential election show by over 95% of the nearly 61 million eligible voters, and the participation of less than 5%, around 3 million, was a clear message of rejection of the entire regime and a popular demand for change.

This demand, which was shouted in anger and loud voice at the nationwide protests of 2018, 2019, and 2022, still exists and, like a fire under the ashes of suppressed protests, will ignite with the winds of events and burn the entire regime to ashes.

For two reasons: first, the regime has responded to the political, social, and economic demands of the Iranian people with nothing but prison, torture, execution, and bullets. The people of Iran, understanding the regime’s policies and nature, are not content with anything less than the regime's overthrow.

Second, there is a powerful, organized, and structured popular alternative with social base, organizational capacity, and a reality-based strategy that, just one day after the regime’s boycott and isolation, can demonstrate its presence with a tens of thousands-strong protestors in Berlin and a simultaneous conference in Paris attended by hundreds of political and parliamentary officials from various countries.

In her speech at the Paris conference on June 29, 2024, Maryam Rajavi addressed the attendees and demonstrators in Berlin:

"Dear compatriots!

Your massive demonstration in Berlin today extends the victory of the Iranian people in boycotting Khamenei’s elections. This outcry from the Iranian people is a message to the world that the overthrow of the Velayat-e Faqih regime is inevitable, and freedom, democracy, and equality in Iran, along with peace in the Middle East, will be established."