Iran’s religious rulers are expanding their clout beyond the streets and into the broader political arena, targeting politicians who have taken a stance against the bloody crackdown on protesters.
At least seven members of the Reformist Movement of Iran – created to transform the Islamic republic from within – were arrested in recent days, including its leader. The arrests come as a realization that Iranian security forces have carried out one of the largest waves of political killings in recent history, causing a rift in the country’s political system. This has led many in the reformist camp to take a bolder stance against the regime, putting them at risk.
Members of the Reformist Front – an umbrella group for reformist parties and a key supporter of Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian in the last presidential election – recently broke with the government’s official line that the deaths were the work of rioters and terrorists and condemned the killings.
Reformist Front leader Azar Mansouri, who has become critical of Iran’s rulers in recent years, said on Telegram, “We declare our hatred and anger towards those who ruthlessly and recklessly have brought blood and filth to the youth of this land.” “No power, no justification and no time can clear up this great tragedy.”
In a separate post earlier this month, Mansouri said efforts to reform the regime from within had failed.
A few days later, on 8 February, he was arrested by members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ intelligence unit, according to the Reformist Front.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York declined to comment. Fars News, affiliated with Iran’s IRGC, said the detained reformist politicians were part of a subversive group linked to the country’s enemies. Without naming the individuals, the report said they face charges that include undermining national unity and planning to incite social and political forces against the Islamic Republic.
“Those who issue statements against the Islamic Republic from within are echoing the voice of the Zionist regime and America,” judiciary chief Gholamhosein Mohseni Ezei said on social media after the arrest.
Two detained reformist leaders – Reformist Front spokesman Javad Imam and its political committee head Ibrahim Asgharzadeh – were released on bail on Thursday, according to Iranian state media.
Iran’s reformist politicians usually find themselves on the opposite side of more conservative politicians, but they have historically worked within the system to ease restrictive social rules and reduce the concentration of power at the core of the regime. His decision to speak out aggressively shows he feels his liberal approach has reached its limits after regime forces killed thousands of protesters.
“These comments are important because of where they are happening,” said Omid Memarian, an Iran expert at DAWN, a Washington-based research and advocacy group. “These are government insiders, people who are close to the president.”
The crackdown on reformists has left the government with no voice to control the behavior of its hardline rulers. This may make it harder to avoid its continuing crisis, where its inflexible positions around its nuclear program and social controls are putting it under wider internal pressure from external powers such as the US and Israel. discontent that is deepening.
Other prominent reformist politicians detained in recent days include former deputy foreign minister Mohsen Aminzadeh; and former lawmaker Ali Shakouri-Raad, according to official state media and reformist publications.
Shakouri-Raad was arrested after a recording of a speech in which he challenged the government’s version of events was published on Jomhuriyet, an opposition Telegram channel, and then widely shared.
In the recording, Shakouri-Raad said he had told senior reformist politicians that they should call on Iran’s 86-year-old supreme leader Ali Khamenei to resign and transfer his authority to Pezeshkian.
“At this age, leaders cannot change their views, but they can say: I step down,” he said in the recording. According to the recording, Shakouri-Raad also said that he believed security forces had misled Pezeshkian into admitting that protesters were responsible for the violence.
Some politicians close to the center have also started openly challenging the foundations of the rule run by Shia clerics for almost half a century. Hossein Marashi, who heads a pragmatic faction that generally focuses on economic reforms and diplomacy to stabilize the Iranian system, said in a recent interview with the reformist news agency KhabarOnline that the Islamic Republic should maintain its republican identity, but not necessarily based on Islam.
In the interview, Marashi called for reducing the IRGC’s influence in government affairs and said frustrations about state control of the media, youth unemployment, and Iran’s international isolation should be addressed. He has not been detained.
Analysts said targeting reformist politicians signals Iran’s religious leaders that they are in control and that questioning the government’s explanations for the killings is a red line.
“The hardliners are sending a clear message that they have the clout to drive domestic and foreign policy in Iran,” said Aniseh Bassiri Tabrizi, an Iran expert at the Chatham House research group.
Iran’s moderate President Pezeshkian is now increasingly isolated. He is counting on the support of reformists to win the 2024 presidential election and vowed to listen to popular complaints over the economy and social and political restrictions. He lost much of Iran’s base of support. economic problems got worse And his government carried out a deadly repression of mass protests.
Pezeshkian has apologized for the violence, without accepting his government’s responsibility. In a speech on Wednesday marking the 47th anniversary of the founding of the Islamic Republic, Pezeshkian said he understood the great grief felt by Iranians and expressed sympathy for the security forces killed in the conflict. He blamed foreign conspiracies for the unrest and called for the nation to unite under Khamenei’s leadership.
Ali Vaez, Iran project director of the International Crisis Group, said that Pezeshkian’s power, once looming, has now been destroyed. He said, “His presidency now resembles a ceremonial pulpit: embellished, visible and hollow.”
Other reformist politicians – such as Hassan Khomeini, grandson of the Islamic Republic’s founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini – have sided solely with the government and accused protesters of being violent rioters working for foreign governments.
After the paramilitary IRGC and plainclothes Basij militia killed thousands of protesters To quell mass protests last month, the Iranian government has made a number of arrests in an effort to prevent unrest from re-igniting.
According to human rights activists in Iran, more than 52,600 people have been arrested since the protests began. The US-based group has confirmed the deaths of nearly 7,000 people since protests began in late December.
According to relatives of those detained, residents and rights groups, those detained include protesters and their supporters – students, civil rights activists, medical staff treating protesters and family members of victims.
The crackdown hasn’t stopped Iranians from unleashing a new wave of anger as they feel the crackdown will cost them dearly.
On Tuesday night – ahead of planned government celebrations for the anniversary of the Islamic Republic – people chanted “Death to Khamenei” and “Death to the dictator” from their apartment windows in different parts of Tehran, according to video verified by Storyful, which is owned by The Wall Street Journal’s parent company News Corp.
Many participants in the mass protests view US military intervention as the only realistic path to overthrowing the Islamic Republic. These people oppose the ongoing talks focused on reducing Iran’s nuclear program.
A 17-year-old schoolgirl from northern Tehran said the city felt like a giant cemetery. “Now if you walk on the streets of Iran, someone dies at every step you take,” he said.
He said of the regime, “The United States should really raze it to the ground and collect its ashes.”
Write to Margherita Stancati here margherita.stancati@wsj.com and on Benoit Faucon benoit.faucon@wsj.com
