Media Blame Ultraconservative Party For Iran's Problems
The ultraconservative Paydari [Steadfastness] party is often blamed in Iran for most of the country's political, economic and social-cultural problems.
The ultraconservative Paydari [Steadfastness] party is often blamed in Iran for most of the country's political, economic and social-cultural problems.
The party emerged in Iran under populist President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (2005-2013) but it also left its impact on political life under presidents Hassan Rouhani (2013-2021) and Ebrahim Raisi (2021 onward).
A report in the moderate conservative Khabar Online website on March 22 characterized Paydari as a party that has adversely affected "Iran's progress" by standing against the people's wishes. The party has an opaque leadership, but its fingers can be seen pulling the strings everywhere.
According to Khabar Online, during the past year, Paydari prioritized its own factional interests over the country's national interests and as a result, Iran lagged other countries on the route to development. Most of what the party has been doing at the parliament were about restricting people's access to the Internet, promoting the idea of use of force against dissidents and invading Iranians' private lives by backing forced hijab and other religious rules.
Some of these fundamentalist approaches led to recent nationwide protests. The party's intervention in every aspect of life has often annoyed the populace. Many reacted with frustration and anger when the party's mouthpiece Raja News website demanded persecution and harsh punishment for a female stand-up comedian who makes fun of regime politicians.
Khabar Online charged that while the people's welfare and livelihood is the country's most important problem, Paydari members, who constitute the majority in the Iranian parliament are concerned about Iranian women's defiance to compulsory hijab.
Although not all the party's members are known to the public, views expressed by politicians in the past two decades have revealed to keen Iran watchers that even some high-ranking IRGC generals also subscribe to Paydari's fundamentalist ideology. Some of these generals are now members of the parliament with or without their uniforms.
On the other hand, many Raisi's cabinet members, including most of those on his economic team are said to be the leading members of Paydari. The party's link to Raisi became evident during his Presidential election campaign when its leading members such as former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili were active. However, like many other areas in Iranian politics, it is never clear who is the cart and who is the horse. Is Raisi using Paydari or is the party using the president?
Paydari is also known for its ruthless opposition to the revival of nuclear deal (JCPOA) with world powers, which some argue aligns with the murky role Russia has been playing in the nuclear issue.
During 2014 and 2015 when the agreement was being negotiated, opposition to the deal at the parliament came mainly from Paydari lawmakers or those who were close to the party.
On the economic front, although a minority at the Majles worked hard to impeach Raisi's economic ministers, Paydari members obstructed all the motions in collaboration with their allies at the presidium, Khabar Online wrote, echoing other media in Iran.
In the cultural sphere, Paydari has always defended the most hard-line policies over hijab and restricting civil liberties, while virtually doing nothing to help revive the economy.
The most damaging policies followed by Paydari have been the attack on the Saudi Embassy in Tehran in 2016 by "rouge elements" and the party's explicit opposition to a nuclear deal that could have saved the nation from economic misery, the moderate-conservative website said.
The Belgian capital hosted the European foreign ministers at the Council of Europe on Thursday, a good opportunity for Iranian activists who want European countries to designate the IRGC as a first step, followed by the expulsion of the Islamic Republic’s envoys, towards the fall of the regime.
Several European politicians, including Danial Ilkhanipour and Alireza Akhondi, were among the speakers of the events that were held during the demonstrations.
Ilkhanipour, a German-Iranian member of the Hamburg city parliament, told the crowd that in the past few months, Iranians have shown they can achieve what they want if they unite, referring to several rounds of sanctions by EU and a resolution by the European Parliament asking the EU to list the IRGC as a terrorist entity for its role in the repression of popular protests and the supply of drones to Russia.
Akhondi, a Swedish-Iranian member of the Swedish Parliament, said that “The Islamic Republic has killed people in Europe and kidnapped people such as Iranian-German national Jamshid Sharmahd,” who faces a death sentence in Iran on charge of "corruption on earth". Sharmahd, who is also a US resident, is held by Tehran for allegedly heading a pro-monarchist group accused of a deadly 2008 bombing and planning other attacks in the country. Akhondi claimed that a large number of agents of the Islamic Republic are here in Brussels.
Vahid Beheshti, the British-Iranian activist who is on hunger strike outside the UK Foreign Office for the same cause, also sent a video message to the gathering, telling the European foreign ministers that as Lebanon’s Hezbollah is blacklisted as a terror group, Iran’s Guards should also be designated.
Most of the speakers of the event asked EU members how they can ignore such a large amount of evidence on human rights violations and terrorist acts perpetrated by the IRGC.
Earlier in the day, the block's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell tweeted that “Ukraine has been attacked again by Russia with Iranian drones, targeting educational facilities and a missile attack on a residential building in Zaporizhzhia. Just when Putin expressed need for peaceful settlement to President Xi, Russian again commits war crimes.”
In January, Borrell said that the European Union cannot list the IRGC as a terrorist entity until an European court has determined that they are, noting "Ministers adopted a new package of sanctions against Iran, targeting those driving the repression.” “The EU strongly condemns the brutal and disproportionate use of force by the Iranian authorities against peaceful protesters," he said but no action was taken to designate the IRGC.
The IRGC was set up shortly after the 1979 Islamic Revolution to protect the Shiite clerical ruling establishment and provide a counterweight to the regular armed forces. It has an estimated 125,000-strong military with army, navy and air units. It also commands the Basij religious militia, a volunteer paramilitary force loyal to the clerical establishment which is often used to crack down on anti-government protests.
There have been numerous Iranian terror acts in Europe, where courts have indicted top officials. In addition, IRGC’s record in organizing attacks elsewhere are well-documented. Critics say that Borrell and many of the European diplomats are focused on re-starting nuclear talks with Iran after the previous long round of negotiations in 2021-2022 ended last September without success.
The current round of antiregime protests engulfed the country in September when 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini was on a trip to capital Tehran where she was beaten to death by the ‘morality police’ for “improper hijab.”
The declaration was made once again by the foreign ministers of the six member states of the GCC, who claim the Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb, and Abu Musa have been unlawfully occupied by the regime.
The Ministerial Council , which hosted high profile attendees including the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, stressed support for the sovereignty of the United Arab Emirates over the three islands as an indivisible part of the territory of the United Arab Emirates.
In the meeting Wednesday, they further added that any practices or actions carried out by Iran on the three islands are “null, void and have no effect on the right of the sovereignty of the United Arab Emirates over its three islands”.
The Ministerial Council also called on Iran to respond to the efforts of the United Arab Emirates to resolve the issue through direct negotiations or resorting to the International Court of Justice.
The three islands have been in dispute since the British withdrew their armed forces in 1971 and Mohammad Reza Shah sent the Iranian navy to secure all three.
Iranian forces remain on the islands, with only Abu Musa having a civilian population which is less than two thousand.
The Council welcomed the agreement reached between Saudi Arabia and Iran in Beijing at the initiative of the Chinese President Xi Jinping, which it also hopes can pave the way for talks over Iran’s nuclear enrichment, a shared concern for all GCC states.
“[We] hope this agreement would constitute a positive step for resolving differences and ending all regional conflicts through dialogue and diplomatic means and establishing relations between countries on the basis of understanding, mutual respect, and good neighborliness,” read the statement.
After seven years of soured political relations, Iran and Sadi Arabia signed a deal earlier this month brokered by China to resume times and open embassies in the respective capitals.
However, the continued activity of Iran’s proxy militia, the Houthi rebels, is proving a contentious issue as they show no signs of abating action in Yemen.
The Council reiterated its calls on the Houthis to negotiate under the supervision of the UN to reach a political solution.
The Ministerial Council further condemned Iran's continued “foreign interference in the internal affairs of Yemen, sending military experts and weapons to the Houthi terrorist militia in clear violation of Security Council Resolutions”.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani slammed the comments about the occupied islands and stressed Thursday that they are an integral and eternal part of the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran.