Exclusive - Former Official Calls For Limiting Khamenei's Power, Resuming Ties With US

Haley was ambassador when former President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear accord with Iran, known as the JCPOA and strongly defended the decision.

Haley, who was Governor of South Carolina, will face Trump in the primaries and mutual criticism will become inevitable, although she has refrained from speaking against the former president unlike John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser.

She has distanced herself from Trump several times, only to later soften her rhetoric toward the former president, saying he has an important role to play in the Republican Party.

The daughter of two Indian immigrants, Haley has gained a reputation in the Republican Party for her ability to address issues of gender and race in a more credible fashion than many of her peers. She has also pitched herself as a stalwart defender of American interests abroad.

Playing into Haley's hands may be geography: South Carolina is the third state to host the Republican nominating contest, and it often plays an outsized role in the race. Haley, who governed the state from 2011 to 2017, is popular there, polls show.

While she comes into the race as an underdog - most national polls show her support in the single digits - Haley is used to running from behind, having gained a reputation in political circles for coming out on top in tough-to-win races.

With reporting by Reuters

Former head of Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Heshmatollah Falahatpish told local media: "If it were not for the issue of sending Iranian drones to Russia to be used in the war in Ukraine, Europe was highly unlikely to ratify a resolution against Iran."

Falahatpisheh, who is one of the few domestic critics still allowed to speak to print media, further said he is worried that Iran might become the second front in Russia's war against Ukraine.

The conservative pundit explained that Europe and the United States had agreed [in March 2022] on two matters – Iran upholding its nuclear commitments and the West reducing sanctions imposed, but at the last moment Russian negotiator Mikhail Ulyanov said that Russia cannot take part in implementing the agreement because of US sanctions on Moscow.

"Later Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Russia would sign the agreement only if all of Russia's nuclear, trade, and military dealings with Iran are exempted from the sanctions. This led to an impasse and the talks were suspended," Falahatpisheh said.

Meanwhile, in an interview with moderate proreform Rouydad24 website, Falahatpisheh charged that some Iranian officials behave in a way as if they are paid to speak against Iran's national interests.

He added that "Statements made by a group of people who have no knowledge of foreign policy have only led to a catalogue of threats against Iran." He was probably referring to individuals such as ultraconservative presidential aide Saeed Jalili and his likeminded allies in the parliament particularly ultraconservative Paydary Party members who staunchly oppose the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal or effectively any agreement with the United States.

Meanwhile, accusing the Islamic Republic of weakening the political elites, Falahatpisheh charged that "Some of Iran's politicians have no proper definition of the government and mainly believe in running the country's affairs like a militia. They have no understanding of the concepts of government, development, international relations, détente, international economy and other political concepts. They do not care what will happen to the next generation of Iranians as a result of Iran's isolation. And that is dangerous."

Falahatpisheh argued that many of the sanctions against Iran are the outcome of such a political approach. "While Iran owns two third of the Persian Gulf waterways and it should naturally attach high importance to the waterway's security, some members of parliament and others threaten to close the Strait of Hormuz. The current situation of Iran and its isolation is a legacy of this kind of grandstanding."

He also said that measures such as sending drones to Russia leads to the IRGC being listed as a terrorist organization in the West rather than the Russian army.

In a related development, Ahmad Bakhshayesh, another former member of parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee said in similar remarks that "The Iranian government believes creating a foreign enemy will lead to solidarity inside the country.”

Referring to the recent drone attack on a military installation in Esfahan, Bakhshayesh said: "Benjamin Netanyahu creates foreign crises as a way of dealing with political divisions inside Israel." Meanwhile, he charged that "the attack was done by Israel from the Republic of Azerbaijan as part of Israel's confrontation with Iran as a country that harasses Israel by its presence in the Golan Heights and its support of the Lebanese Hizballah."

Bakhshayesh added that Iran has recently armed [its proxy groups] in the West Bank, in an area only 15 kilometers away from Israel. He characterized this action as "creating permanent tension" in that region.

Ebrahim Fayyaz, a professor of sociology at the University of Tehran, said in an interview with Rouydad24 website that enmity with “knowledge and particularly humanities” has made academic and research institutions useless. He said the demographic situation in Iran has made it difficult for the country's rulers to keep the society under control, and it is going to be even more difficult as we go further.

As an example, he said: "We did not consider the rules of the global game when we started to sell drones to Russia. As a result, Russia took advantage of us because our foreign minister did not know how to protect the country’s interests."

Iran has supplied hundreds of kamikaze drones to Russia which have been used against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure, angering the United States and Europe.

Fayyaz warned that there is no room for trial and error in International diplomacy, but this is what Iran is doing constantly. He said: "We should have defined our foreign policy with the help of the academia. But unfortunately, our government does not want to interact with the universities. Our officials want to talk. They do not want to listen to others."

"Under the circumstances," he said, "the university does not have anything to do with the government, and the government does not take the universities seriously. The government thinks that thanks to the oil money at its disposal, it no longer needs the university. This situation pushes the universities into the opposition's lap."

Fayyaz also criticized the state television for dictating the official views to the interviewees and asking them to repeat the party line. He said: "The rulers should follow men of knowledge and not vice versa." He added: I have been barred from appearing on TV because I wanted to say what I think, not what the government wants me to say.

Fayyaz's statements was so similar to what some Economists such as Moreza Ezzati, who has said, "public interest is not a priority for the government," and politicians such as former lawmaker Gholam Ali Jafarzadeh Imanabadi who regrets that "There are no wise and educated individuals around President Ebrahim Raisi."

Imanabadi has recently charged in an interview with Nameh News that the Iranian President has given big jobs in his cabinet to day dreamers and naïve individuals. Instead, he has removed a lot of wise, highly skilled, expert and well-educated individuals from their posts.

"The situation will be like this as long as national interests are not among the priorities of top officials and they make their decisions based on their biases and grudges and give opportunities to radical elements devoid of wisdom," Imanabadi argued.

"The only thing these officials can do is criticize former officials and blame them for all the problems that have been created recently." He added: "Even the Taleban in Afghanistan have realized that they need to talk with America if they want to solve their problems, but Iranian officials ignore obvious realities. At the same time, they fabricate their own figures to pretend that the country is on the course of progress. Raisi recently made so many claims…all contradicting the Central Bank and the Statistical Center's official figures."

Stating that general dissatisfaction in Iran is at a record level, Imanabadi said that Raisi should set aside factional differences and bring back the experts to the government. Referring to Raisi's frequent analogy about the "train of progress," Imanabadi said: "Where is this train? It either does not have a driver to steer it, or it has been derailed."

In a note published by the reformist Etemad newspaper Monday, Rabiei said one must examine economic indices with a gender-based bias to understand why women are such a strong driving force in the current protests.

He pointed out that the rate of women’s participation in Iran’s economy has never exceeded 17 percent compared with 60 percent for men, whereas the global average for women stands at 50 percent, adding that the rate which stood at 12 percent in 2014 climbed to 17.6 percent in 2018, the highest in the past two decades.

Rabiei added that unfortunately this modest gain was wiped out in the past three years, mainly because of the COVID pandemic and women’s economic participation now stands at 13 percent. “One of the country’s fundamental problems is that women’s health and education has improved but there have not been opportunities for women to expand their role in the economy and politics.

Around 25 percent of Iranian women over the age of eighteen have higher education.

“This means that women have achieved social status but have not had the opportunity to participate and faced barriers. The same applies to the middle class,” he wrote.

“Undoubtedly a section of those demanding change in the recent protests belong to this group,” Rabiei said and opined that the feminine character of the protests can be the outcome of inequality that bars women from accessing economic opportunities.

But the issue for many women is not just jobs, as they understand that there is systemic discrimination against them and lack of social freedoms. After all, the protests did not ignite because of economic demands, but for the freedom to walk in public free of the Islamic dress code.

Hardliners generally define the role of women in society first and foremost as mothers and wives. In his speeches, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei often tells women to marry early and have children. He has also insisted, on many occasions, that wearing the hijab does not limit women’s social role and their careers.

“One of the greatest mistakes of western thinking about the issue of [the role of] women is this gender equality... Why should women be asked to carry out tasks [fit for men]? What is the glory in having women carry out tasks [fit for] men? I am sorry that sometimes women themselves are sensitive about this issue,” he said in a speech in April 2014.

“The main issue with respect to women's emancipation in the West is dragging women from home to the factory, using them as cheap labor,” he said in a recent speech in which he insisted men and women have equal rights in Islam but different roles and that women's primary and most important duty is being mothers and wives, that is, their role as housewives.

With Khamenei’s backing, hardliners battled fiercely to prevent the government of President Hassan Rouhani from implementing the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, particularly its Goal 5 regarding eradication of discrimination against women and their empowerment.

Hardliners held rallies to protest the government’s plans to implement the UN guidelines and even tried to smear Rouhani during his reelection campaign in 2017 by claiming that the guidelines included immoral things such as “teaching students about homosexuality”.

Ensieh Khazali, Vice President for Women and Family Affairs, said last week that the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is now being implemented but certain parts would be modified according to the government’s own views regarding their appropriateness.

Many have strongly criticized Khazali for her unverified claim about the implementation of the UN guidelines during a live televised debate with her reformist predecessor Masoumeh Ebtekar. Critics say the reason for hardliners’ objection to the implementation of the guidelines was their political rivalry with Rouhani.

The country’s parliament is trying to fiddle with existing laws to make the measures seem in accordance with the constitution. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has given his blessing, trying to sell the idea as long overdue, which should have been guiding principle in the early years of the regime. 

The shady privatization plan, which is promulgated to improve the generation of wealth and production in Iran, has been met with a lot of skepticism by the public, who have seen corrupt “privatization” in the past 15 years, when state properties were sold at ridiculously low prices to well-connected individuals.

The clerical regime – struggling with domestic unrest and grappling with rising inflation on the backdrop of global isolation – is in desperate need of money. People are terrified that the plan is the Islamic Republic’s last-ditch effort to liquidate public assets to keep itself afloat. 

On Monday, Ali Khamenei met with a group of businesspeople urging them to help kickstart the country’s economy. He stressed on the necessity of economic growth to reduce the hardship people face.

Khamenei, who almost never acknowledges the country’s problems and always blames the “enemies” for everything, said that Iran is at least a decade behind in its economic development. Calling for the privatization of industries, he said important mistakes were made in the early years of the Islamic Republic by making all major economic sectors run by the government.

"The country will not be run without the activities of private enterprises, and these enterprises will not engage in such businesses without the support of the government, and if they do, they will not be successful,” he added. 

Iranian media and economic experts are characterizing the privatization plan that officials keep vague as "a plunder of public property" and "economic apartheid." 

According to reports, the new privatization plan approved by the heads of the three powers of the government, President Ebrahim Raisi, Majles Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Judiciary Chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei bars critics of disclosing details of transactions and suspends for two years all legislation that might prevent these transactions.

The transactions are going to take place under the supervision of a seven-man team, comprised of Vice President Mohammad Mokhber, Economy Minister Ehsan Khandouzi, Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi, Roads Minister Mehrdad Bazrpash, Planning and Budget Chief Massoud Mirkazemi, and two representatives of the Parliament Speaker and Judiciary Chief, who are not appointed yet. The members of the taskforce are said to have absolute judicial immunity. 

Critics say that secrecy and immunity will give way to financial corruption as the seven-member board has the right to determine the prices for the transfer of assets to the private sector. 

In an article on Monday, Rouydad24 website labeled the move as “putting on auction the people’s properties,” elaborating some of its “horrible” points. The article said that the move is one of the most questionable decisions ever approved by the country’s leaders. 

“It has never happened in the history of Iran that seven people make decisions for the entire capital and future of a nation without being accountable for anything,” read the article. 

One of the clauses of the resolution gives the group the power for two years to overrule all laws and regulations that are already in place to block the sale of public properties. It means the current administration is coordinating with other branches of the government to suspend all current laws to do whatever it wants, fueling speculations that the government predicts it would not be able to stay office in the next election. 

Gholam Ali Jafarzadeh, a former lawmaker, has said that such an extrajudicial taskforce may be justified during wartime, asking what strange thing has happened now that justifies such a decision. 

The article described the long list of the public assets that are to be sold as “frightening,” especially because the government doesn’t have information about the exact value of the assets. “What is more frightening is that the properties are supposed to be sold without legal formalities,” it added.