Opinion Survey Shows Disappointed Iranians Want A Nuclear Deal
Iran’s president Ebrahim Raisi faces a dismal approval rating of 28 percent, as 87 percent surveyed recently named the ailing economy as their number one issue.
Iran’s president Ebrahim Raisi faces a dismal approval rating of 28 percent, as 87 percent surveyed recently named the ailing economy as their number one issue.
An important factor contributing to the economic and social crisis the Islamic Republic faces is United States’ sanctions in the absence of a nuclear deal with the West.
“The single factor that Iranians thought could positively impact the future of the country is a successful nuclear agreement between Iran and the West, which might improve their economic situation,” the company that conducted the survey said in a press release.
Raisi’s approval rating is the lowest since 1997 when data has been collected on Iranian presidents, Stasis, a consulting and survey company based in Washington DC said on Wednesday [June 29], when it released the results of aa survey conducted from June 12-16.
Stasis Consulting conducted the survey through phone interviews, as the Iranian government would not allow a foreign-based company to independently conduct a field study. The sample of 1,197 people aged 18 and older were included from every Iranian province.
The results are not surprising given the deterioration of economic conditions since Raisi assumed office last August and with the media, politicians and citizens fiercely criticizing the hardliner president for the unfolding economic chaos.
It is not just the impact of United States’ sanctions on the economy, as critics blame Raisi for lack of a credible plan to deal with runaway inflation, above 50 percent, and food prices rising to an alarming level above 80 percent in May-June compared to same period last year.
“The result of this survey shows that most Iranian citizens have distrust in government, are pessimistic about their future, and are dissatisfied with the direction of the government and the performance of the president,” said Arash Ghafouri, President of Stasis, known for its regular polling on Iran-related issues.
However, it is clear to most Iranians that a nuclear agreement with the West would lift economic pressure and improve the situation for the average citizen. Iran has so far refused to accept an offer made by the US to return to the 2015 nuclear agreement, capping its program in exchange for removal of sanctions imposed since 2018.
“Most Iranians (55 percent) believe that Iran should make a deal with the West regarding Iran’s nuclear issues, as opposed to only 17 percent who are explicitly against such an agreement. Younger Iranians, between the ages of 18 and 29, are more likely (60 percent) to favor the agreement,” Stasis said, summarizing its survey results.
Raisi was elected in June 2021 in the lowest turnout presidential election in the Islamic Republic’s 43-year history, with official results saying 48 percent cast ballots, while some critics claimed the real number was even lower.
The survey asked respondents about the low turnout and 46 percent answered “distrust in the regime” as the leading reason. Half of those who voted for Raisi would not for him or not participate in the election again.
Another interesting survey result was Iranian attitudes toward the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“Thirty-five percent of respondents mentioned they have sympathy toward Ukraine, as opposed to just 12 percent who favor Russia. Another 24 percent have no sympathy toward either country. The level of sympathy toward Ukraine is higher among Iranian youth between the ages of 18 and 29 (41 percent),” Stasis Consulting said.
Fans took to social media when it became clear on Tuesday that the Persian Gulf Pro League Esteghlal FC had no intention of renewing the contract of its captain, Voria Ghafouri and pushed the hashtag “Voria is not alone” to the top of Persian Twitter. A group of Esteghlal fans also held a protest rally outside the club’s headquarters after the announcement was made on Wednesday.
Ghafouri’s future with his club and the national team became highly doubtful in May when he rebuked the government for its handling of protests sparked by a sudden rise in prices and many feared that the authorities would push for his exclusion from his team as punishment.
“Voria Ghafouri was excluded because he did not consent to side with the government against the Iranian people,” dissident blogger Hossein Ronaghi tweeted. “In the Islamic Republic sports is totally political ... Elimination of popular athletes [who speak up] is meant to cover up the crimes of the government,” he wrote.
Hardliners deny any connection between the footballer’s political views and his exclusion from his team due to alleged interference of state authorities.
In a tweet Wednesday, Abdolreza Davari, one of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's advisors and confidants who later turned against him, accused the former captain of Esteghlal FC of making controversial statements “to play victim” because he knows but at the age of 35 he is no longer physically fit to play and that the renewal of his contract is not likely.
“It is the right of the Iranian people to live a happy life,” the national team star said in a post-match interview in May in reference to the economic and social pressures Iranian people have been enduring and said authorities responsible for it must feel shame.
The outspoken footballer has been in trouble with the authorities for quite some time. In 2019 he was summoned for explanations after he criticized Foreign Minister Mohammad-Javad Zarif in an Instagram post for saying Iranians were “proud of being under pressure defending the people of Palestine, Lebanon, Yemen and Syria.”
"You are not under pressure … It is the ordinary people who are under pressure," Ghafouri retorted to Zarif.
Ghafouri’s criticism of Iran’s regional policies and the authorities for downplaying the impact of US sanctions on ordinary Iranians also drew an angry response from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
"Some people, who benefit from the country's peace and security enjoying their jobs and their favorite sports, bite the hand that feeds them,” Khamenei said in a clear reference to Ghafouri in a public speech on February 18, 2019.
Ghafouri was summoned by the Ministry of Sport for an explanation for his comments within a few hours of Khamenei's speech.
The footballer is also known for supporting women's right to watch football in stadiums from which they have been banned for over four decades.
In 2019, a young girl, Sahar Khodayari, died in hospital after setting herself on fire outside a court in Tehran where she was to go on trial for attempting to enter a stadium disguised as a man to watch her favorite team. She became known as ‘The Blue Girl’ for the color of her club. Ghafouri wore a jersey with Blue Girl written on his chest to honor herbefore a match.
On June 28, 1981, a bomb hidden in the microphone, or the audio system, exploded at a meeting of the Islamic Republican Party killing around 70 top officials of the new revolutionary government. The chief prize for whoever was behind the plot was ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti, seen at the time as the number two figure after the founder of the clerical regime, ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Beheshti died.
The Supreme Leader paid his utmost respects to Beheshti in his speech, but introduced him as a top judicial official, not as the powerful figure he was at the time.
Khamenei reminisced the tough months in the summer of 1981, when the Mujahedin organization (MEK) and a variety of leftist and Marxist groups challenged Khomeini and the Islamic Republic.
“They threw everything they had at us,” but the regime survived and has continued to survive for four decades, the aging leader boasted.
Indeed, the regime has survived, but Khamenei did not mention the methods used for survival. For one, he failed to mention the hundreds of people executed right after the revolution, all without a real trial, including Amir-Abbas Hoveida, the long-time prime minister during the monarchy, who had no trace of financial corruption and was known for his diligent pursuit of economic development.
Khamenei also failed to mention the jailing of thousands of MEK members and other leftists in the 1980s, and Khomeini’s decision to massacre them in prisons while they were serving their sentences. Around 5,000 prisoners were killed in 1988 in a matter of 30 days.
He also did not mention the ‘chain murders’ of intellectuals in the early 1990s and the thousands of journalists, dissidents and ordinary people killed during protests or use of excessive force by the government in the three decades since.
Khamenei also claimed in his speech that Islamic Republic’s enemies have been looking for its demise for more than four decades, seeing signs of weakness as potential good news, but they have been disappointed.
“The enemy cannot understand that in this world, other than political calculations, there are also other considerations, which are God’s rules and traditions,” he said. Khamenei has been reinforcing his legitimacy by claiming that he is the highest Shiite authority on earth, and it is the hand of God that has secured his rule.
Khamenei also did not mention Iran’s economic decline since 1979, especially in the past 15 years as his foreign policy and nuclear program have brought about devastating sanctions. The currency rial has fallen by close to 4,500-fold since 1978, from 70 rials to the dollar to over 300,000.
Facing serious economic problems and continuing anti-government protests, he called on his followers to stick with “God’s rules”, meaning “jihad” to defend the regime.
He then repeated worn-out slogans, such as fighting corruption, while just this week news emerged about another massive embezzlement case of more than $700 million dollars in animal feed imports.
Khamenei also asked the hardliner judiciary, which is controlled by him, to deal with cyperspace to protect "people's psychological peace", implicitly encouraging a push by his followers to restrict access to the Internet.