Former Iranian president Hassan Rouhani has called for the exit of intelligence and security forces from the economy in a rare sweeping call for reform by a former key player in Tehran's political and security establishment.
“To fulfill the people’s will, let the armed forces stick to their core duties—nothing else. The economy isn’t their job. Propaganda, domestic politics or foreign policy aren’t either,” Rouhani said in a video message posted on his official website on Wednesday.
Rouhani argued that if the Islamic Republic expected its people's support against American and Israeli foes, it must deliver on its promises and avoid corruption.
“An intelligence agency involved in business or trade isn’t intelligence,” Rouhani said.
Reform attempts
The state dominates the economy through oil, banking, and strategic industries, while the IRGC plays a major role in commerce, limiting private sector freedom.
Calls for reform gained the fore during the presidency of Mohammad Khatami from 1997 to 2005, but the momentum waned and gave way to the rise of hardline governments such as that of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Rouhani, his successor, adopted a more pragmatic stance and championed a 2015 nuclear deal which earned him the ire of hardliners and has been shut out of high-profile politics since.
A protege of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a founding father of the Islamic Revolution, Rouhani was a longtime head of Iran's powerful Supreme National Security Council before his presidency.
Despite his fall from favor, Rouhani is among the few figures considered a potential successor of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, though his chances have likely ebbed in recent years amid opposition by conservatives.
Popular will
Rouhani also suggested Iran's courts were beholden to entrenched interests, undermining society.
“People want an independent judiciary," he added. "To strengthen domestic governance, this is the path.”
In Iran, the judiciary is closely aligned with theocratic principles, often prioritizing state ideology and well-connected figures over impartiality.
Courts enforce strict Islamic laws, regulate social behavior, mandate the Islamic veil and police public expression.
Rouhani said solidarity between Tehran and its people he says was won in a brief war this summer could be deepened if authorities pursued a measured foreign policy.
“If we do all this and avoid unnecessary foreign policy conflicts or enmities, we’ll have a strong, unified nation standing behind its leadership,” he added.
Since the June 24 ceasefire between Iran and Israel following 12 days of conflict, Tehran has increasingly embraced nationalist symbols, including imagery and figures from the pre-Islamic era, both in public and during state broadcasts.
“Activating the snapback mechanism is against international norms and lacks legal validity,” judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir told reporters. “Seven years after the United States unilaterally violated the nuclear deal, instead of being held accountable, Europe has now chosen to activate this process.”
Jahangir described the snapback as “a psychological and propaganda tool rather than a real threat,” saying its aim was to undermine public morale.
“The enemy is trying to create dissatisfaction in society through noise and psychological warfare, but experience has shown that the Iranian people resist sanctions, hardships and aggression with determination,” he said.
He urged the media to act “intelligently” in covering the issue. “We must not allow anyone to feed into false divisions at home or damage national unity,” he added.
His comments come as Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance has issued a confidential directive to newsroom editors, seen by Iran International, ordering outlets to limit coverage of the snapback process.
The instructions warn against “emotional” or “crisis-oriented” headlines and call for presenting the sanctions as manageable.
Editors were told not to highlight potential economic risks such as inflation, devaluation of the rial, or volatility in gold and foreign exchange markets, which officials fear could worsen public anxiety.
Instead, media are encouraged to frame the sanctions as evidence of European weakness, stress Iran’s resilience under pressure, and highlight internal political and economic problems in the West.
The directive follows warnings by domestic economists that renewed UN sanctions could intensify inflation and weaken the currency.
Last month, the Tehran Chamber of Commerce projected the dollar could climb to 1.65 million rials under pessimistic scenarios, but the report was later downplayed after members of the chamber’s international affairs team were questioned by the Revolutionary Guards’ intelligence unit.
Reza Salehi Amiri, minister of cultural heritage, tourism and handicrafts, said plans for recovery were underway amid the challenges posed by the war. “The policy we defined for after the recent war is the product of lengthy expert work in the ministry,” he said.
However, he said that recovery was contingent on broader security conditions. “Our forecast is that within the next six months, if stability is defined and threats removed, we can return to our previous program,” he said.
New visa hurdles
Iran’s foreign ministry enacted new restrictions on visitor entry in the wake of the war, the Travel and Tour World website reported last month. The rules ban individual travel, require official contracts with registered agencies, and oblige travelers to provide their hotel bookings and complete itineraries. A licensed guide must accompany tourists throughout their stay.
Visa applicants must also submit résumés, education records, travel history, and links to their social media accounts, with embassy reviews stretching up to three weeks, according to the outlet. In July, other industry websites circulated the same requirements, which took effect on August 1.
According to August figures, arrivals had already fallen 53 percent from the year before, the deputy tourism minister, Anoushirvan Mohseni Bandpey, said, attributing the decline to the 12-day war and what he called a campaign of Iranophobia.
Industry strain
Hotel operators have likewise cited losses. Cancellations in western provinces had reached billions of rials, Jamshid Hamzezadeh, head of Iran’s hoteliers’ association, told state media in July.
“Travel has effectively fallen out of priority in many people’s lives,” he said.
Iran’s hotel industry faces challenges that long predate the war. Inflation and stagnant household incomes had already pushed travel out of reach for many families, concentrating spending on food and housing.
The country has also seen a downturn following international warnings from countries such as the US warning against travel to Iran citing fears of arbitrary detention, especially for dual nationals.
Salehi Amiri said last year that the ministry was planning to expand accommodation capacity. “We are obliged to open 100 hotels annually,” he said, adding that many of Iran’s 1,430 existing hotels fall short of international standards.
The discussion about building this number of hotels comes while, according to industry officials, the current newly built hotels do not even have the minimum number of guests to cover their expenses.
The newspaper Payam-e Ma criticized Salehi Amiri's remarks. "It would be better, since the minister himself has said that many hotels are not in a position to attract tourists, for the government to focus on standardizing existing hotels instead of opening new ones," he said.
The country, historically known for its rich cultural and historical heritage as well as its natural beauty, has struggled to attract foreign tourists in recent years. Despite its allure, the country faced challenges such as strict dress codes for women and restrictions on alcohol and nightlife.
Data from the Statistical Center of the Islamic Republic shows that the number of incoming tourists to Iran in 2023 was 6.4 million, up from 4.2 million in 2022, when the Woman, Life, Freedom protests rocked the country.
However, before the pandemic, the peak of foreign tourist arrivals to Iran was in 2018 and 2019, with 7.8 million and 8.8 million tourists entering the country, respectively.
