A Deep Crack In The Foundations Of The Iranian Regime – OpEd

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The mid-November upheaval in Iran was a severe earthquake that originated deep gaps in the foundations of the Iranian regime. Several officers have likened the uprising to the Operation Karbala-4 in the Iran-Iraq War, which inflicted heavy casualties within the regime. Others compared it to the Operation Forugh-e Javidan, where the Iraq-based armed opposition failed to overthrow the regime and capture Tehran in 1988. Every faction in the Iranian regime is trying to blame each other for the revolution due to the high price of gasoline.

In this regard, accusations against President Rouhani are increasingly intense. With him, treason has become commonplace within the regime, let alone everything he has been charging. “His life is based on lies in any aspect –whether personal, political and social–, even his doctorate is fake”, said Mullah Hamid Rouhani from the Khamenei Band. 

Movahedi-Kermani, Imam of Friday Prayer and Khamenei’s representative in Tehran, blamed Rouhani for the increase in the price of gas and the outbreak of the uprising. He said: “You neglected by saying it’s nothing! An accident has resulted from a wrong plan, causing many dead and wounded together with the destruction a large part of the country. It is clear who Movahedi-Kermani represents and in whose name, he speaks”.

Earlier, Rouhani had said he noticed the price of gasoline was rising on the morning of the day it was announced. Movahedi scoffed at Rouhani saying that he also knew nothing about the increase, and he found out upon waking, and blamed him on the spilled blood of so many young people.

Iran’s MP, Parvaneh Salahshouri, declared: “The president built a situation where his own supporters are on the margins and being humiliated by people”. Mostafa Kavakebian, member of the Iranian Reformists, said: “Things went so bad that, as a representative of the people, I am ashamed to say that I have supported this government”.

Some members of Rouhani’s entourage also demand his resignation amid growing pressure from the opposing group, because they know the situation of the regime and the Islamic Government is too delicate and unstable to take such a risk. Rouhani has always been a showcase for the Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist against the West to portray the commodity named “modernization”. Thus, Rouhani’s supporters want to counter against Khamenei’s band attacks with this weapon.

Khamenei’s defensive action has been to escape from the consequences of his decision to repress and kill protesters. In other words, blaming Rouhani is the flip side of maneuver of showing some Islamic goodness, along with sending Shamkhani, secretary of the regime’s Security Council, to appease the families of rebel martyrs. An act that was as dangerous to the dictator as the massacre itself, because it showed people his weakness, while shaking the faith and beliefs of his collaborators. The horror Khamenei felt at the consequences of having suppressed the uprising was so severe that, even a month later, the names and characteristics of the casualties have not been revealed, not even an incomplete statistic of the number of dead, wounded and detained.

Mousavi, former prime minister of the Iranian regime, attributed this earthquake to the massacre that the Shah’s suppress forces applied. But the situation of the Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist is like a drowning man who scratches everything to save himself. As the Shah felt threatened to be overthrown, imprisoned his 13-year-old prime minister, Amir-Abbas Hoveyda, and General Nasiri, Savak’s chief. But these actions did not save the Shah from falling. The November uprising changed everything on the political and social coordination page, and neither the regime nor the people will be the same after the uprising.

Hamid Enayat

Hamid Enayat is an Iranian human rights activist and analyst based in Europe.

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