Reactions Abound To Embarrassment Of IRGC General Slapped In Public

In a speech in Mashhad, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, a former top IRGC officer and Tehran mayor, said, “We eliminated people from various areas of public life, or we stratified them”, insisting that without the involvement of large segments of society the Islamic Republic cannot succeed.

Ghalibaf’s remarks come as hardliners loyal to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei have dominated all three branches of government since February 2020 and have sidelined the loyalist opposition of ‘Reformists’. Ghalibaf himself is accused by former officials and journalists of a role in major corruption schemes in Tehran municipality when he was mayor (2005-2017) and also in suppressing student protests more than two decades ago.

Those who disagreed with the tenants of the Islamic Republic have long been purged by death or exile.

Iran’s economy became dominated by the state after the 1979 revolution when major industries were nationalized in the wake of an Islamic-leftist zeal, and businessman were either jailed, killed or had to flee for their lives.

Ghalibaf spoke of alienated youth and asked, “Aren’t these our children…shouldn’t we talk with them?” He also spoke of hardship gripping ordinary workers, saying that they earn less than $200 a month working two jobs and asked, “Shouldn’t we talk about this?”

Anemic economic growth and high inflation that were prevalent since the revolution have become much more acute in the past three years because of United States sanctions. Iran’s currency has dropped almost ninefold since late 2017 and annual inflation is close to 50 percent.

As the situation deteriorates, former and current government officials seem to be competing in advocating for better living conditions for the average Iranian. They also untiringly accuse each other of being responsible for creating the current impasse. Hardliners accuse former President Hassan Rouhani for signing the 2015 nuclear deal, the JCPOA, while reformists argue that without normalization of ties with the rest of the world Iran cannot hope to improve its lot.

Ghalibaf, however, seemed to be taking the rhetoric to a higher level on Monday by saying that without attention to ordinary people even religious beliefs will be eroded. Referring to Shiite sanctities, the speaker of parliament said, “Until when people should show steadfastness for Imam Hussein’s blood?” The grandson of Prophet Muhammed, Hussein, who was killed in 680 AD by other Muslim forces is the saint Shiites uphold as the true heir of the Prophet.

Ghalibaf said, “We were not able to work correctly. We spent more than $20 billion in the past three years to subsidize seven essential imports,” but prices rose for the people. “So, we don’t have a good record in running the country.” He added that open discussion is important because “people are important, and they are the ones to save the religion.”

The speaker who is himself a loyal follower of Khamenei also repeated some of the clerical regime’s favorite themes, such as a “media war” that “enemies” have launched to weaken the Islamic Republic. Another favorite theme he mentioned is a theory advanced by Khamenei that the US created the Islamic State group to weaken Islam.

But Ghalibaf underlined, “When we are in power, we have a responsibility toward everyone, all groups with different views, all religions and ethnic groups, because people live under the umbrella of the Islamic regime, which is in power in the name of religion.”

The reformist paper Etemad Monday in a commentary headlined ‘To Be Read by President’s Advisers,’ lambasted blunders by President Ebrahim Raisi, suggesting they would destroy his self-confidence.

In the past two months Raisi (Raeesi) has uttered several malapropisms and made other errors in his public appearances and speeches, leading to comparisons with United States presidents Donald Trump, Ronald Reagan and George W Bush, whose gaffes and blunders spawned the term 'Bushism' and several books.

Unlike most Iranian clerics such as the 82-year-old Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei who are confident, eloquent public speakers, the 61-year-old cleric now steering Iran's government is clearly no orator. In fact, he often looks quite uneasy when addressing the public.

Raisi made two awkward gaffes last week. In a speech in Ardabil when speaking about the region's cultural heritage, he referred to the Safavid-era Shia scholar, Ahmad ibn Muhammad Ardabili, by two of his titles Mohaghegh (researcher) and Mughaddas (sanctified) as if Mohaghegh Aradabili and Mughaddas Ardabili were two separate characters.

"In our time we neither understood Mohaghegh Aradabili, nor Mughaddas Ardabili," Raisi said.

As a senior cleric who has studied Shia theology and jurisprudence in seminaries for many years this came as a surprise to many even his supporters who are hard at work on social media to whitewash the mistake.

In a speech at the International Islamic Unity Conference, also last week, Raisi referred to the Turkish-born Sunni Muslim scholar Mohammed Said Ramadan al-Bouti − killed in the Syrian war in 2013 and known as "Shaykh of the Levant" − as Shaykh Touti. This was particularly amusing for Iranian social-media users given 'touti' translates as 'parrot'.

Critics have pointed out that Raisi is even not comfortable reading prepared speeches. He read his address to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Tajikistan in September from a prepared text but repeatedly failed to follow the words and mispronounced them so in his speech "belt road" turned into "belt and road" – referring to China’s massive international infrastructural plan – mixed with some other mispronounced words when speaking about a transit project.

The Etemad commentary wrote that Raisi's gaffs would embarrass Iran and that the presidential staff needed to follow the example of White House chief of staff Michael Deaver and presidential adviser David Gergen during the Reagan presidency.

"Gaffes lead to more gaffes,” Etemad observed. “A politician will gradually lose his self-confidence if he makes repeated gaffes and will make even more.” The paper drew a comparison with a volleyball game going badly when the coach "should take a time out" and stop further losses by talking to players.

Ali Shamkhani, who has the rank of an admiral in the IRGC Navy, tweeted in Persian and Arabic referring to new reports that Israel has appropriated an additional $1.5 billion budget to confront Iran’s nuclear threat.

Shamkhani wrote that instead of spending the money on “mischief” Israel should prepare to spend tens of billion of dollars to rebuild after a “decisive” attack by Iran.

Israel media had reported on October 18 that the additional money set to be approved by the government in November, would pay for aircraft, intelligence-gathering drones and armaments needed for a strike against hardened Iranian nuclear targets.

Iran has suspended negotiation with world power over restoring the 2015 nuclear agreement knowsn as JCPOA since June as it enriched uranium and building a stockpile that could reduce the time for building a nuclear device.

Israeli officials have warned on several occasions since August that if no options are left they would "go it alone" to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

A few days after Mora’s one-day trip, Vatan-e Emrooz, a daily founded by an aide of former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, published a report saying that the Iranian foreign ministry held a birthday party for the European envoy. The news led to some controversy on Twitter, and other media in Iran reprinted the report.

As of Sunday, October 24, Vatane-e Emrooz website seems to have been blocked by Iranian censors and its Instagram page is also not available. Its Twitter account has been inactive since October 20 when it published its report about the birthday party.

Mora had traveled to Tehran to break an impasse in reconvening the Vienna nuclear talks between Iran and world powers. Iran has stopped attending the meetings since June.

Both centrist and reformist media have criticized the foreign ministry, which has so far not officially denied the report by Vatan-e Emrooz. The centrist Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA) while reporting on the birthday party, has pointed out that the move by the foreign ministry was out of order, “considering the state of relations between Iran and the other side [West] in the JCPOA negotiations.”

The reformist newspaper Entekhab, however, has gone much farther, accusing the hardliners, who control the foreign ministry, of hypocrisy in their constant attacks on former foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif when he was interacting with Western diplomats, and now when they reportedly hold a birthday party for Mora.

Entekhab in an article on Saturdayemphasized that the foreign ministry has not denied the report by Vatan-e Emrooz. The website said that its reporters have tried in vain to obtain the reaction of parliament’s national security and foreign policy committee. One conservative lawmaker told Entekhab, “I am not aware of the controversy”.

The website also drew attention to the silence of hardliner media over the issue. It mentioned the example of the ultra-conservative Kayhan daily, affiliated with the office of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. While Kayhan harshly attacked Zarif for a stroll with former US Secretary of State John Kerry in 2015, now it ignores the rumor about the birthday party, the website said. It added that allowing the foreign ministry to do its job is good news, but it shows the hypocrisy of the hardliners, who constantly impeded Zarif’s work.

During his visit to Tehran, Mora met Ali Bagheri Kani, the new man in charge of the nuclear file in Iran’s foreign ministry and a well-know hardliner. Entekhab quotes Kani’s anti-Western remarks in the past and contrasts it with the alleged birthday party.

The Islamic Republic newspaper (Jomhouri-ye Eslami), enjoying close connections with the office of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, in an editorial note wrote that there is a lot to say about an October 18 interview by state television with Raisi, but most of all “an interview with the president should not be a formality”.

The paper, established after the revolution in 1979, is managed by Masih Mohajeri, a widely respected veteran cleric known for eschewing factions.

The newspaper noted that despite earlier promises to accept questions from the public, no such opportunity was offered, and the interviewer did not challenge Raisi when he repeatedly blamed the former administration for current problems people face. The paper asked that more than two months have passed since Raisi took office and why there is no positive movement toward solving the economic hardship people face.

Iran’s hardliners were lambasting former president Hassan Rouhani in the media for the deteriorating economic conditions since the United States withdrawal from the Iran nuclear agreement (JCPOA) in 2018. The criticism usually left out the fact that without oil export income constituting half of the government’s budget Rouhani’s hands were tied. The same applies to Raisi.

The Islamic Republic daily wrote that when the price of poultry increased, the state television was attacking Rouhani but now when egg prices have doubled in two months it does not question Raisi.

The paper said that everyone knows the answer as to why egg prices have jumped but Raisi should have been asked about it, so he could have explained that his government is also challenged by the same “external factors”, Rouhani faced, which are beyond the president’s powers to address.

The sharp statement implicitly refers to Iran’s nuclear program and negotiations with the West that have so far not succeeded, leaving the country to struggle amid US sanctions.

The newspaper advised the president “to tell the people the reality, openly and honestly.” In this case, people would welcome his conduct and he would have a better chance of success. In other words, Raisi should come out and admit that US sanctions have led to the serious economic crisis, but the power to change that with a nuclear agreement rests with Khamenei.

Raisi was handpicked by Khamenei to become president after all serious rivals were barred from running in the June election by a constitutional body under the Supreme Leader’s control.

Both before the vote and after assuming office, Raisi has been echoing Khamenei’s slogans for self-sufficiency, and making lofty promises of revolutionary solutions to modern day economic issues. He issues a dozen orders a day for local and national problems to be solved, without saying how his officials can build roads, provide drinking water and electricity or pay workers when there is close to 50-percent budget deficit.