Pundits Say Iran's Government In Disarray And Warn Of Mass Unrest
A former lawmaker says the Iranian government is in disarray, and a political analyst argues the current economic crisis is likely to lead to large protests.
A former lawmaker says the Iranian government is in disarray, and a political analyst argues the current economic crisis is likely to lead to large protests.
Former lawmaker Gholam Ali Jafarzadeh Imanabadi told Nameh News website in Tehran on Tuesday that the Iranian government has already collapsed, and it will be too late when President Raisi finds out what his advisers have done to the country and the government."
Imanabadi, a moderate-conservative politicians, charged that "Iran has 6 Presidents." He explained that Vice President Mohammad Mokhber has pushed out the Vice President for Economic Affairs Mohsen Rezaei, and Vice President for Executive Affairs Solat Mortazavi from the government's Economic Commission, but to wat extent can this measure make Raisi's economic team efficient?"
He charged that while the current economic crisis is the country's most important issue, Raisi knows very little about the economy and his team is still extremely weak and uncoordinated."
Imanabadi said that "all the 6 contestants in the 2021 Presidential election, including Raisi are members of the Raisi Administration." He added: "In other words, the government has 6 presidents, like the proverb 'Too many chiefs and few Indians' ".
"All the existing evidence points to differences in the government's economic team," he said, asking "How can the vice president for economic affairs not be a member of the government's economic team?"
Imanabadi explained: "The is so much pressure on Raisi and he cannot do anything other than make more promises because his economic team does not help him. Planning and Budget Chief Massoud Mirkazemi does whatever pleases him regardless of Raisi’s promises to the people and Mokhber is a big bluffer. We still remember that he said: Five big countries are buying [Covid] vaccines from Iran."
The lawmaker charged that while everything in the country's economy is linked to the nuclear deal, and every interview with Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian raises the exchange rate for the US dollar by 10,000 rials, Raisi still insists that he will not tie the fate of the economy to the nuclear deal (JCPOA).
What the lawmaker did not mention, is the fact that trying to publicly minimize the impact of US sanctions is a regime-wide policy imposed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Meanwhile, Political analyst Ali Mohammad Namazi has said in an interview that "If the current situation continues, widespread protests are likely in Iran." Namazi stressed that the Iranian government should reach a nuclear agreement with the United States as soon as possible."
Namazi warned that Iran's treasury is almost broke and the government is not even able to make overdue payments." He exclaimed "Why there is still no nuclear agreement while the economic situation is getting increasingly difficult?"
He quoted other analysts as saying that nothing has changed in the new draft nuclear agreement compared to the one prepared under President Hassan Rouhani," last year and suggested that "The government should be determined to sign the final agreement without insisting on irrelevant matters. But the negotiating team is more focused on symbolic moves rather than on technically down-to-the-point negotiations."
He was implicitly referring to Tehran’s demand for removing the IRGC from the US list of terrorist organizations that have halted the Vienna talks.
Namazi said, "a final agreement will bring about an economic breakthrough that would lead to releasing Iran's frozen assets and facilitate oil normal oil exports. Non-nuclear sanctions can be left for a future when the two sides can have discussions beyond the nuclear issue."
