Five Months of Iran Protests Forces Khamenei to Acknowledge the Failure of the Regime

Written by
Hossein Daei Alilslam

On Monday, the Iranian regime’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, acknowledged the failure of his regime’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, whose presidency he had described as the “Sweetest event” in 2021.

In his remarks in a meeting with some of the regime experts that was broadcasted by state TV, Khamenei acknowledged the regime’s economic failure, thus reversing himself and the bogus claims he and Raisi had made about economic and social prosperity!

Khamenei acknowledged “poverty and visible living problems,” “difficult livelihood of the Iranian families,” “unemployment of millions of citizens and their immigration,” and “a lot of negative economic indicators.”

“The economic grievances and concerns you just said are real. We have a difficult livelihood for families in the country. The only solution to eradicate poverty and increase the well-being of families is economic growth,” he said. Yet, by praising the regime’s nuclear program, for which he has squandered billions of dollars of national wealth, Khamenei confirmed he was just shedding crocodile tears for the people.

He admitted that popular protests stem from the regime’s corruption, mismanagement, and ineptitude.

He also admitted that the regime lost its international and economic illegitimacy by referring to the plunging value of Iran’s national currency against the U.S. dollar. “In the modern world, a country’s situation is largely attributed to its economic state. So, when its economy declines and its national currency’s value plunges, that country loses its place in terms of international ranking.”

Despite being the regime’s highest authority, he dodged any responsibility and instead blamed it on other officials. “Of course, I do not have an executive approach. I show the path and follow up with authorities on taking it.”

While trying to lay the blame for the country’s economic crunch on rival factions and executive branches of the government, Khamenei said: “Now we are dealing with some contradictory decisions by the executive branch. One organization decides to act, and the other rejects it and does the opposite. Yet, both are sitting behind the same desk in the government’s sessions. This shouldn’t happen.”

He also acknowledged the system’s bankruptcy and the huge budget deficit of Raisi’s government. It is worth noting that last week, while presenting his plan, Raisi claimed his government’s budget bill has no deficit, causing much stir in the regime’s handpicked parliament. First, Khamenei’s cherry-picked MPs rejected Raisi’s claims, and now his mentor is calling out Raisi’s “perfect budget bill.”

“Unfortunately, the budget has a structural problem. This bizarre budget deficit we have been facing has been a major source of financial problems. We created the Economic Council of the Heads of Branches to resolve this issue, but we haven’t succeeded,” Khamenei said.

Despite an unprecedented national boycott of the sham elections and international outrage, Khamenei pulled Raisi out of the ballot box in 2021. Raisi is notorious for his role in the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners, most of whom were members and supporters of Iran’s principal opposition Mujahedin-e Khalq.

Selecting Raisi as president was the last piece of Khamenei’s puzzle of power consolidation, following the tight vetting of the members of the parliament in 2020. The major Iran protests in 2018 and 2019 rattled the regime’s foundation, and Khamenei understood that the slightest opposition in his regime’s ranks would increase the procedure of downfall. So, in order to save his regime, Khamenei tried to fortify his ranks. Despite his numerous promises and claims, Raisi’s presidency wasn’t meant to address the country’s financial calamity or social problems. His only task was to oppress the restive society.

So why would Khamenei now try to oust any blame from himself as the supreme leader of this regime? The answer lies in the streets of Tehran and other cities, where for the past five months, people have been continuing their uprising to topple the entirety of the regime by focusing on the main slogan “Death to Khamenei”.

By chanting slogans against Khamenei and confronting his repressive forces with bare hands, Iranians confirm that the country’s problems stem from the regime’s corruption, mismanagement, and ineptitude. The continuation of the anti-regime protests, despite the heavy crackdown, also points to the organized nature of what many consider the revolution in the making.

Iran’s currency (rial) and economy are on the verge of another crisis
Bereft of any solution to Iran’s problems and protests continued, Khamenei sensed the danger and saw his regime’s downfall on the horizon. Therefore, like a drowning man, he clings to anything he finds and takes it down with him. So it is no surprise that he now blames Raisi for the current situation in a bid to misguide the public as if the problems are due to the mismanagement of the executive branch. But as Iranians have chanted on the streets: “Poverty, corruption, and high prices; Onward to [regime’s] overthrow,” and “Their promises are a mirage, the solution is the revolution,” showing that they are opting for nothing more than regime change.

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