Iran International
Moderates’ call for an overhaul of Iran’s political order has drawn fierce conservative backlash, with some critics invoking reformist appeals of 2003 that ended in bans, prison, and exile.
The new call for “national reconciliation”, issued by Reform Front on August 17, framed a return to popular sovereignty as the only way out of Iran’s multiple crises.
It cited both the aftermath of the recent conflict with Israel and the looming threat of the EU activating the nuclear “snapback mechanism” as urgent reasons for change.
Conservative outlets quickly drew comparisons to the controversial 2003 open letter by 127 reformist lawmakers urging Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to “drink the chalice of poison” and accept reforms.
Many of those signatories were later banned from politics, imprisoned, or forced into exile.
By invoking that episode, conservatives sought to portray the new initiative as both politically subversive and ultimately doomed.
Beyond calls for social and political freedoms, the statement urged controversial steps to resolve Iran’s nuclear standoff, direct negotiations with Washington, suspension of uranium enrichment, and acceptance of full IAEA monitoring in exchange for sanctions relief.
Despite visibility in elite circles and the press, the appeal has gained little traction among ordinary citizens or social media users.
‘Betrayal’
Hardline media and politicians reacted with near unanimity, branding the statement treasonous and aligned with foreign agendas.
The ultra-hardline daily Kayhan, funded by Khamenei’s office, derided the document as “a Persian translation of Netanyahu’s speeches.” Sadegh Mahsouli, secretary-general of the Paydari Party, framed it as the opening move of a new “sedition” designed to fracture the country.
An adviser to Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf called the document “a dagger to the heart of national unity.”
Pragmatic conservative Ali Motahari voiced skepticism in a post on X, arguing that suspending uranium enrichment was unrealistic since Western powers would demand further concessions on missiles and regional policy.
Some even accused the authors of targeting Khamenei himself.
“The signal … to the enemy is that … by holding the defensive lines, the Leader is still preventing the project of Iran's capitulation,” former editor of the hardline outlet Raja News, Ehsan Salehi, posted on X.
“If giving such signals to the enemy isn’t treason, then what is?”
Reformist divisions
The statement also drew criticism from within the reformist spectrum.
The reformist daily Ham-Mihan, linked to the Executives of Construction Party, said the text reflected aspirations rather than a practical roadmap.
Saeed Nourmohammadi, spokesman for the reformist Neda-ye Iranian party, opposed issuing such manifestos that escalate tensions and “create binary divides.”
Others urged restraint.
Emad Bahavar of Iran's Freedom Movement argued that neither the authors nor critics should be vilified:
“Overcoming the current complex situation requires national reconciliation and constructive dialogue among all groups that genuinely care about the country and its people, whose primary concern is the ‘Iran question’.”
Some dismissed conservative attacks outright.
“They denounce any path that opposes their views, have little taste for peace, reconciliation, or coexistence, and treat 'enrichment' as a sacred, untouchable principle,” posted senior reformist journalist and politician Mohamad Sohofi on X.
“They spin the 12-day war—which should have been a lesson—as a victory, and despite the failure of their bluster-and-threat policies, the hardline conservatives remain obstinately uncompromising.”
Alavi, now a senior adviser on ethnic and religious affairs to President Masoud Pezeshkian, said the 12-day conflict with Israel and the United States in June showed that Iranians of all ethnic and religious backgrounds can stand together. But he cautioned that this unity could be undermined if people feel ignored or excluded.
“Do not let injustice, discrimination or unprofessional politics erode this social capital,” he said in an interview with state news agency IRNA. “People must not feel they are only wanted for war, not for building the country.”
The cleric added: “We must make ethnic and religious justice a reality, and give all Iranians equal opportunity and security regardless of their identity.”
Tehran is embracing the very nationalism it suppressed for much of its existence in the wake of a punishing 12-day war with Israel and the United States, signaling authorities' keenness to drum up unity among a weary populace.
Narrative battle and state media
Alavi devoted much of his remarks to Iran’s media shortcomings during the conflict, acknowledging that foreign broadcasters shaped global perceptions.
Referring to public criticism voiced online, he said:“People on social media ask, ‘Why must our story only be heard through hostile or so-called neutral media?’ The national broadcaster must act more nationally.”
The former minister directly accused Persian-language channels abroad of aiding Iran’s enemies.
“Hostile media like Iran International, Voice of America and similar outlets played exactly the role that the enemy sought on the battlefield -- to create division between people and the state, weaken morale with exaggerated or false reports of casualties, incite ethnic and sectarian tensions with racist narratives, and push polarization between ‘the people and the front’ or between ‘defense and freedom,’” Alavi said.
He accused such outlets of using “psychological operations to portray Iran’s legitimate defense as reckless adventurism and to damage domestic cohesion.”
Iranian authorities have threatened dozens of journalists at London-based broadcaster Iran International and hundreds of their relatives in a campaign to force resignations, Forbes reported earlier in August.
Lawyers from Doughty Street Chambers and Howard Kennedy said 45 reporters and 315 family members were targeted over the past six weeks, warning they would be killed if they did not quit by deadlines that have since passed.
Iran International, which covers events in Iran and the region, said staff have faced harassment since its 2017 launch, including assassination and kidnapping threats, assaults, online abuse and hacking.
British lawmakers have warned that Iran is among foreign governments carrying out transnational repression in the UK.
The broadcaster last week filed an urgent appeal to UN experts, urging action against Tehran over risks to its journalists worldwide and relatives inside Iran.
The Reformist Front’s 11-point statement, released just weeks after the 12-day war with Israel, demanded sweeping shifts in both foreign and domestic policy, including reconciliation with the West and curbs on the IRGC’s role in politics and the economy.
The appeal was the boldest in years from a faction once central to Iranian politics but now largely marginalized.
Hardline outlets responded with fury.
Kayhan daily branded the proposals “capitulation,” while IRGC-linked Tasnim News Agency warned of a “Gorbachev moment” that could unravel the state. The backlash underscored how sensitive the demands were, cutting at the very pillars of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s power structure.
Alex Vatanka of the Middle East Institute says that reformists are testing the waters precisely because they sense the Islamic Republic is battered by sanctions and the war with Israel.
“The Islamic Republic is under strain like never before,” he told Iran International, “but reformists don’t have the street behind them.”
The moderates are laying the groundwork for further challenges if ignored, Vatanka said, insisting the letter should not be read as mere symbolism but as a signal of intent.
“This is just the beginning,” he added, cautioning that without broad public support, their leverage remains limited.
Others place the statement in the context of succession politics.
Historian and author Arash Azizi described it as part of a “post-Khamenei world,” with rival factions already maneuvering for influence after the 85-year-old leader.
By openly calling for suspending enrichment and curbing the Revolutionary Guards, he argued, reformists are staking out ground in anticipation of change at the top.
They are not naïve,” Azizi said. “They know these demands won’t be met tomorrow. But they want to shape what comes next.”
But the gulf between elite politics and public sentiment remains wide.
Behnam Ben Taleblu of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) cautioned that while such statements attract attention in Washington, they resonate little inside Iran.
“This is politically significant in the sense of who said it, but it won’t have impact,” he said.
For many Iranians, he added, the reformist project has lost credibility after years of unmet promises.
A vision beyond hardline rule
The Reformist Front’s roadmap also included calls to end the house arrests of Green Movement leaders Mir-Hossein Mousavi and his wife Zahra Rahnavard.
Whether such demands gain traction will depend on whether they can move beyond closed-door debates and find resonance in a weary society.
Meanwhile, pressure on Tehran is mounting.
European governments have threatened to trigger the UN’s snapback sanctions if nuclear talks stall, a move that could plunge Iran deeper into recession.
Inflation and power and water shortages are already hitting daily life, while the war with Israel exposed vulnerabilities in Iran’s defenses and weakened its standing abroad.
Despite the boldness of their demands, few expect Iran’s ruling elite to bend.
The Supreme Leader has shown little tolerance for compromise, and the Revolutionary Guards remain entrenched across politics and the economy.
Yet Azizi argues the statement with its sweeping demands should not be dismissed as irrelevant.
“It is a mini earthquake,” Azizi told Iran International. “Even if it doesn’t lead to immediate change, it tells us how reformists are imagining a post-Khamenei Iran.”
Whether the letter proves to be a turning point or just another forgotten appeal may depend less on reformist leaders than on whether ordinary Iranians are willing to rally behind them.
Tehran’s state-linked media, particularly Tasnim News—linked with the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC)—have seized on Israeli reports of espionage cases to magnify them into signs of Iranian strength.
Tasnim published multiple reports and podcasts this week highlighting Israeli arrests and investigations, as well as protests against Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of hostage negotiations with Hamas in Gaza.
The upbeat coverage portrayed these developments as evidence of Israeli weakness and Iranian intelligence triumphs, even as Tehran continues to grapple with the fallout of its own counter-intelligence debacle during the 12-day war, which saw the deaths of dozens of IRGC commanders and nuclear scientists.
'Eye-catching'
Tasnim on Monday cited a report on Israel’s Kan 11 channel about espionage-related charges to suggest Israeli intelligence is “seriously concerned” about “the eye-catching” number of Israelis caught allegedly spying for Iran.
The arrests and charges indicate there is a systemic attempt by Tehran to gain a foothold inside Israel.
A New York Times article on Monday described how Israelis recruited via Telegram were “cajoled into acts of sabotage and even assassination plots.”
In 2018, former Israeli energy minister Gonen Segev was convicted of spying for Tehran after passing sensitive information to Iranian handlers.
More recently, an Israeli woman named Anna Bernstein was indicted for allegedly working with Iranian intelligence through online contacts
The efforts, however, pales when compared to the apparent depth of Israeli infiltration of Iran’s own intelligence and security structures—underscored best perhaps by former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who asserted that the Iran desk chiefs of both main intelligence agencies were once exposed as Israeli agents.
Parallels: fabricated real
Tasnim has also leaned on familiar propaganda tactics to amplify Israel’s troubles.
It reported that “serial fires continue in Israel,” even publishing a video purportedly showing a blaze in a shopping center. The reports mirrored a wave of at least 50 unexplained fires and explosions inside Iran since the ceasefire.
Social media users often blame Israel, while officials routinely attribute them to gas leaks. It has become a running joke for Iranians as incidents multiply.
This tactic of manufactured symmetry has a long pedigree in Iran’s messaging.
During the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, state media routinely published claims of Iraqi losses or unrest that mirrored Iran’s own vulnerabilities.
Then-propaganda chief Kamal Kharrazi, later foreign minister and now a senior adviser to supreme leader Ali Khamenei, oversaw some of the most striking fabrications, including tank destruction claims that exceeded the Iraqi army’s total arsenal.
‘Grand infiltrator’
Tasnim’s recent reports on alleged “serious rifts among Israeli political officials,” podcasts about Netanyahu’s critics, and coverage of protests demanding hostage negotiations continue this tradition of projection.
Unsurprisingly, none of Tasnim’s reports acknowledge Iran’s intelligence failures during the war.
For all the noise about alleged victories abroad, the real picture at home remains marked by secrecy and unanswered questions.
Iran’s former state broadcaster chief Mohammad Sarafraz put it bluntly this week.
“We have a Grand Infiltrator in our country,” he said in an interview with moderate outlet Entekhab. “Those who misled by blaming information leaks on WhatsApp to deflect from real infiltration must be held accountable.”
For decades, Afghans have formed the backbone of Iran’s low-wage workforce, filling jobs few Iranians were willing to take.
Their sudden absence now threatens both growth and jobs.
Conservative economist Mohammad-Hossein Mesbah called the push to send Afghans home “economic suicide.”
“Abbasabad industrial town [south of Tehran] was almost entirely closed today,” he posted on X. “Why? Shortage of labor. Job ads everywhere … Not a single worker to be found.”
From open borders to expulsions
Before the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, the Afghan population in Iran rarely exceeded two million, including about 780,000 with official refugee status. Under former President Ebrahim Raisi’s “open borders” policy, that number surged to more than seven million.
President Masoud Pezeshkian has since reversed course under public pressure.
Following Iran’s recent 12-day conflict with Israel, the government accelerated the deportation of undocumented Afghans, linking some expulsions to national security.
Officials say more than one million migrants have left in the past 100 days, though an estimated six million remain—four million without legal status.
The government has vowed to enforce labor laws, including fines of around $20 per day for undocumented workers, doubling for repeat offenses. Yet enforcement remains patchy in sectors long dependent on informal labor.
Afghans’ role in the Iranian workforce
According to the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor, and Social Welfare, 433,000 registered Afghan workers were active as of June 2025—roughly 2 percent of the total labor force.
More than half worked in construction, while others were employed in industry (19 percent), agriculture (11 percent), and mining (less than 1 percent).
A Chamber of Commerce study noted that Afghans, once concentrated in unskilled jobs, had increasingly moved into skilled and technical roles.
Their disappearance is now raising alarms about productivity and output across the economy.
Industry and construction hit hardest
The owner of an industrial workshop in Boumehen, near Tehran, told Shargh newspaper that even legally employed Afghans have left in fear. “We still haven’t found replacements, and nobody responds to our job ads,” he said.
Construction has been hit hardest.
In 2024, estimates suggested that Afghans made up three-quarters of Iran’s 1.5 million construction workers, and nearly half of those in Tehran.
With deportations underway, projects have stalled, and labor costs have jumped by 30–50 percent. The spike is expected to push housing costs even further out of reach.
Rising costs for food and services
Agriculture has also been disrupted. Farmers report delays in harvesting summer fruits and other perishable produce, including pistachios and saffron—two of Iran’s top non-oil exports.
Higher labor costs threaten to drive up food prices at a time when inflation is already high.
Urban services are showing strain as well.
In Tehran, the deportation of hundreds of Afghan street cleaners employed by municipal contractors has left piles of garbage and recyclables in some neighborhoods. Overflowing trash has become a visible sign of how deeply the deportations are reshaping daily life.
Some contractors have lost up to 80 percent of their workforce, according to city official Naser Amani.
