Politicians warn Pezeshkian against nepotism and his 'super project'

In recent days, ultra-hardliner social media activists, largely supporters of former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, have been criticizing President Masoud Pezeshkian and his government for their "inaction" against Israel, despite its recent deadly operations in Gaza and Lebanon. They have suggested that Iran is avoiding confrontation with Israel.

Ultra-hardliners have, however, remained conspicuously silent on the fact that the decision to launch a military response against Israel ultimately rests with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, as commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, not with the president or parliament.

In a series of X posts Saturday after Nasrallah’s demise was confirmed, Khamenei called on all Muslim nations to stand by the people of Lebanon but fell short of vowing revenge by Iran for his killing and the killing of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July as hardliners and ultra-hardliners had expected.

“Only breaking red lines [by us] can stop [the enemy from] breaking [our] red lines,” a Jalili supporter tweeted while suggesting that the Islamic Republic should end its so-called “strategic patience” and build a nuclear bomb, threaten to leave the UN and refuse to allow the passage of Western commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz for a week by holding a week-long naval drills.

“Why can Yemen block the main passageway of oil [in the Bab al-Mandab Strait] but we are not doing the same in the Strait of Hormuz?” an ultra-hardliner asked in a tweet Saturday.

Another ultra-hardliner suggested that Iran must target the economic interests of the Western, Israeli, and Arab countries in the region before taking any other action.

“Iran's first step should be closing this strategic passageway to prevent an all-out war in the region,” he tweeted while suggesting that failing to take such a step may bolden Israel to make the “strategic mistake” of attacking Iran.

Iranian officials have on many occasion in the past threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, but this can lead to a clash with the US and other naval forces, leading to a regional war.

“Whether we like it or not, Iran must direct its military doctrine towards building a nuclear bomb. Iran has wasted the cards it held in the past and the only card that it holds now is a nuclear bomb. This is the only means to bring the West to the negotiation table,” Sohrab Salehi, a university professor of medicine who also supports ultra-hardliners on social media tweeted Saturday.

“You gentlemen in charge, one must have nuclear power against such an enemy. Test the first nuclear bomb for the sake of Iran's security and in reaction to the actions of the notorious regime [of Israel],” Mohammad-Mehdi Dehghannejad, an ultra-hardliner social media activist tweeted.

These demands have drawn criticism from other netizens, who argue that closing the Strait of Hormuz would only escalate tensions. They also point out that building a nuclear bomb, despite the official claim that Khamenei has issued a religious ban on weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear arms, would not shield the Islamic Republic from Israel.

“In the highly unlikely case that we succeed [in building a bomb], how can a system that can’t protect its highest officials manage to guard that bomb? Or let’s say you built it...how are you going to make a deal using the nuclear bomb card?” a netizen on X asked the advocates of Iran becoming nuclear to protect itself against Israel.

A netizen on X contended that ultra-hardliners will brag about the closure of the Strait of Hormuz for some time but their ruckus will soon be forgotten as in the past.

Meanwhile, Abdolreza Davari, a former ultra-hardliner and close confidante of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who supported Pezeshkian over Saeed Jalili in the presidential election, offered a surprising assessment of the situation and Hamas's role in it following Nasrallah’s death.

Highlighting the upcoming anniversary of the October 7 attack that ignited the latest round of conflict, Davari argued in a tweet that an analysis of the “cost-benefit of the operation and its impact on the Resistance Front and the Zionist enemy” reveals that the operation resulted in “nothing but pure damage.”

In another tweet, Davari suggested that Iran should reassess the factors behind the “devastating blow” to the Resistance Front and prioritize “pursuing Iran's interests” in line with the shifting dynamics of the region in the post-Nasrallah era.

The new price, set at 18,000 tomans per kilogram ($0.30), follows a directive from First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref and comes amid rising inflation and escalating living costs for Iranian households.

The Market Regulation Headquarters approved the price hike last week, raising the price from 15,000 tomans ($0.25) to 18,000 tomans ($0.30), although the decision was delayed by a week. This increase has sparked concerns across the dairy industry, particularly about its impact on related products.

Unlike in the US or the EU, where market forces and industry decisions primarily drive milk prices, in Iran, the government, through officials like the Minister of Agriculture, directly intervenes to set and adjust prices, reflecting the state's significant role in managing essential goods within the economy.

With the minimum wage in Iran at around $120 per month, many families, particularly those with children, are finding it increasingly difficult to afford basic living expenses, as much of their income is consumed by rent and other necessities.

Ali Ehsan Zafari, Chairman of the Dairy Products Union, emphasized that the most significant price increases will affect products like cheese, while the price of milk itself will see a more modest rise. Zafari also noted that overall dairy product prices are expected to increase by around 25%, further exacerbating an already declining trend in dairy consumption.

According to Mohammad Reza Bani Taba, spokesperson for the Iranian Dairy Products Industry Association, Iran’s per capita dairy consumption has dropped to less than 70 kilograms annually. This is a sharp decline from the period before 2010, when per capita dairy consumption in Iran ranged between 100 and 130 kilograms.

As milk prices rise, further declines are expected, with potentially severe consequences for both the livestock and dairy sectors. Zafari warned that continued price increases could drive further reductions in dairy consumption, putting additional strain on the already struggling industries.

Farmers have also voiced their dissatisfaction, arguing that the last price adjustment in May 2023 was insufficient to cover their rising costs. Mojtaba Ali, CEO of the National Cooperative Union of Iranian Dairy Farmers, stressed that the price should have been increased earlier in the year to better reflect the escalating expenses faced by farmers.

Farmers, he noted, have suffered financial losses for the past seven months due to low milk prices, despite the inflationary pressures that have affected the agricultural sector.

Meanwhile, the cost of basic goods like bread has surged sharply. The Tehran Traditional Bakers Union reports that the price of lavash has risen by 40%, while the cost of sangak has increased by 66%. The Ministry of Interior has approved these hikes, which add to the financial strain on Iranian households. With one in three Iranians now living below the poverty line, many families are struggling to make ends meet.

As the new school year begins, parents are facing additional financial pressures, with stationery prices rising by 35% and school bus fees increasing by 45%.

“His eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s secretary-general, has joined his fellow great martyrs whom he had led for 30 years from one victory to another,” Hezbollah said in a statement.

Nasrallah’s death occurs amidst an escalation in the nearly year-long conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that intensified in September after Israel indicated it could no longer tolerate insecurity in its border region with Lebanon.

Hezbollah has been launching rockets, missiles, and drones into northern Israel in support of Palestinians in Gaza and Hamas, which is an allied Iran-backed militant group. In response, Israel has intensified its airstrikes and conducted targeted killings of Hezbollah commanders while threatening a broader military operation.

The past ten days marked the deadliest period in Lebanon since the grueling month-long conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006.

Initially, thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah members exploded across various locations in Lebanon, resulting in scores of fatalities and nearly 3,000 injuries. Lebanon attributed the explosions to Israel, although Israel did not confirm or deny involvement. Nasrallah vowed to retaliate but he was killed before he could implement any counterattack plan.

Nasrallah was born on August 31, 1960, in Lebanon. His father was a fruit vendor, and he was the eldest child in a family of 11. His birth and childhood were marked by the conflicts between Israel and Lebanon. In 1974, Musa Sadr and Mustafa Chamran, two Iranian supporters of Khomeini in Lebanon, initiated the Amal movement, and Nasrallah joined the movement in 1975 at the age of 15.

At 16, he went to Iraq. In 1979, coinciding with the Iranian Revolution, Nasrallah completed his preliminary religious studies in Najaf. This period coincided with pressure from Saddam's government on Shia clerics. Nasrallah returned from Najaf to Baalbek, Lebanon.

After the 1979 revolution in Iran, Nasrallah met with Khomeini in 1981. Khomeini granted him permission to engage in religious and civil affairs. At this time, Nasrallah was only 21 years old.

In 1982, amid the Iran-Iraq War, Hezbollah was formed with the planning and support of the Islamic Republic. Tehran's propaganda apparatus presented this group as one influenced by the Islamic Revolution of 1979 in Lebanon from the outset.

Nasrallah joined Hezbollah at its inception. In 1989, around the time Ali Khamenei was selected as Supreme Leader, he traveled to Iran to study at the Qom seminary.

From the establishment of Hezbollah until 1991, Sobhi Toufaily was the secretary-general of Hezbollah. In 1991, the executive council of Hezbollah removed him from his position and replaced him with Abbas al-Musawi, Nasrallah's former teacher.

Musawi was the secretary-general of Hezbollah for less than a year. In February 1992, he was killed in an Israeli helicopter attack. The 31-year-old Hassan Nasrallah succeeded him in Lebanon.

Immediately after his appointment, Nasrallah traveled to Tehran and met with Ali Akbar Velayati, the then-foreign minister of the Islamic Republic. During this meeting, Velayati emphasized that the relationship between the Islamic Republic and Hezbollah was “fraternal” and would continue.

At the beginning of his work as secretary-general, Nasrallah managed to position Hezbollah as a political entity. After Hezbollah's participation in elections, he traveled to Tehran to meet Khamenei and presented a report on his political activities in Lebanon. Khamenei praised his political success and called for greater support for Hezbollah.

Nasrallah's trips to Tehran continued. After the relatively moderate Mohammad Khatami's won Iran's presidential election in the 1997, the relationship between the Islamic Republic and Hezbollah remained strong. In October 1997, a few months after Khatami's presidency began, Nasrallah was among his first foreign guests. In a meeting on October 13, 1997, Khatami expressed condolences for the death of Hadi Nasrallah, Nasrallah's eldest son, emphasizing the Islamic Republic's comprehensive support for Hezbollah and calling it a “symbol of resistance.”

On July 7, 2000, Nasrallah returned to Tehran again. During this visit, he also had a side event; at the invitation of Mustafa Moeen, the Minister of Science in the “reformist” government, he visited Tarbiat Modarres University.

Moeen presented honorary membership in the university's faculty to Nasrallah, saying, "It is the pride of our higher education system that we awarded our first honorary doctorate to Nelson Mandela and today we bestow honorary membership upon Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah."

Nasrallah's relationship with the Islamic Republic during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency remained strong and close, as it had been in the past. The year 2005 was a pivotal one for Nasrallah. Following the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, Hezbollah came under suspicion because Hariri had made efforts to limit the political and military power of Hezbollah.

Nevertheless, Hezbollah managed to succeed again in the parliamentary elections. After this victory, in June 2005, he traveled to Iran.

During his visit to Tehran, Nasrallah met with Khamenei. This was Nasrallah's last official trip to Tehran. Once, in 2021, reports emerged about his secret visit to Tehran, but this trip was never confirmed.

After Nasrallah stopped appearing in public, he began to express Hezbollah's views through video speeches.

Reaction to the Green Movement

In 2010, a year after the Green Movement protests in Iran—where one of the slogans was "Neither Gaza, nor Lebanon, my life is for Iran"—videos of Nasrallah surfaced. In one of them, he emphasized the religious ideology of the Islamic Republic, stating, "In Iran today, there is no such thing as Persianization or Persian civilization. What exists in Iran is Islamic civilization. What exists in Iran is the religion of Muhammad."

Nasrallah continued by praising the leaders of the Islamic Republic, stating, "The founder of the Islamic Republic was an Arab father and the son of the Prophet of God, Muhammad, may God bless him and his family. Today, the leader of the Islamic Republic, Ali Khamenei, is the son of the Prophet of God."

In the second video, Nasrallah addressed the protests following the 2009 elections, stating, "Some dreamt of the end of the Islamic Revolution and the overthrow of the Islamic Republic, but these dreams are mere illusions. The Iran that many have exaggerated recent events about—I emphasize—remains strong. Its system, government, people, and elites are blessed with wise, courageous, compassionate, and capable leadership, under the historic guidance of Ali Khamenei."

Funding from Iran

In a speech in July 2016, during the peak of President Hassan Rouhani's government's efforts to re-establish relations with the West, Nasrallah pointed to financial support from the Islamic Republic, stating, "The budget, expenses, and weapons of Hezbollah come from the Islamic Republic."

He continued, "As long as Iran has money, it means we have money." These remarks by Nasrallah created difficulties for the Rouhani government at that time, both domestically and in terms of its image around the world.

On Mahsa Amini

About two weeks after the killing of Mahsa Amini for mandatory hijab, Nasrallah reacted to the protests in a speech on September 30, 2022. He said, "Due to the ambiguous death of Mahsa Amini, Western countries have made a fuss, while Tehran has emphasized that it will conclude the investigations without any bias."

Nasrallah pointed to the explosion of a Shiite educational center in Afghanistan, saying, "More than 50 innocents were martyred, yet no one made the slightest noise, but regarding Mahsa Amini's death, this incident has been widely exploited."

Many social media users and viewers of Iran International expressed joy at his passing, with some even wishing the same fate for Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the autocratic ruler of Iran.

Khamenei announced a five-day period of public mourning for Nasrallah. However, videos sent to Iran International reveal a starkly different reaction from some Iranians, who were seen celebrating Nasrallah's death by distributing pastries in the streets and even raising toasts. In one video, a citizen handing out pastries mockingly addressed Khamenei, saying, 'It seems these people are very close to you. You’re hiding today, but what about tomorrow?'"

In other messages shared with Iran International, Iranians directed scorn towards Khamenei and Hezbollah. "You took from the mouths of Iranians and gave to Hezbollah. Now, with the death of Nasrallah, your dreams have been shattered," said one citizen. Another remarked, "Nasrallah was just a puppet; the head of this octopus is in Iran."

A different one addressing Khamenei, mentioning all his prominent allies who have been assassinated in recent years: "Take a look—Nasrallah, Haniyeh, Qasem Soleimani, Raisi, Zahedi. What else do you want? What happened? How much of your bluster is only for the people? You only know how to bully your own people... Soon, your turn will come too." Another added, "Not only was your Nasrallah killed, but billions of dollars of the Iranian people’s money were wasted. Khamenei, I foresee a day when they will come for you as well."

Political commentator Ali-Hossein Ghazizadeh told Iran International, "History has shown that anyone who tries to save Hamas not only fails, but also risks being pulled into collapse alongside it."

Morteza Kazemian, another commentator, noted that Nasrallah’s death marks a new era for the Islamic Republic, where it must either “abandon its ambitions or adopt a pragmatic stance regarding Israel.”

Meanwhile, in central Tehran, a group of pro-government protesters gathered, carrying posters of Nasrallah and Palestinian flags, chanting slogans like “Death to Nasrallah's enemy.” Some demonstrators also warned of Israel's destruction, with one protester saying, "We have heard the message clearly (the killing of Nasrallah). Israel will be destroyed, Israel is finished for sure, the oppressor Israel will go."

A banner displayed on a building read in English, Farsi, and Hebrew, “We will seek revenge. You can't imagine where or when." Another protester remarked, "It is certainly the fault of Islamic countries because, as the Supreme Leader said today in his message, this rabid dog is taking advantage. If we don't attack, it will want to invade all Islamic countries. Hopefully, with the help of God, we will unite, and we'll see Israel's destruction very soon."

University professor Majid Nasiri, speaking to AFP during the protest, said that “Through the martyrdom of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, I sensed we were getting closer to the destruction of the Zionist regime because more martyrdom makes people of the world more aware and more hateful towards the Zionist regime.”

Another protester, Mahboubeh Ansari, told reporters, "I am here to slap Israel in the face and say we are here to support Palestine, we support Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah."

Videos released on social media also show that a group of government supporters gathered in front of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, chanting slogans. Using loudspeakers, they repeated the words of Ayatollah Khomeini: "Shed the blood, and our nation will become more awakened."

A group of Shia seminary students also staged a rally in Qom, symbolically wearing shrouds as a display of their readiness for martyrdom in response to Nasrallah's death.

In a message to Iran International, one individual sarcastically urged Khamenei to send those who have registered to fight against Israel sooner, so "we can have even more joy."

Another citizen condemned Nasrallah as a “terrorist” and expressed hope that a similar event would occur in Tehran, “bringing happiness to many.”

Additionally, Syrians were also seen celebrating the death of Nasrallah, with videos circulating online showing people in Syria distributing sweets on Friday night.

The Head of the Judicial Organization of the Armed Forces of Iran confirmed Nilforoushan’s death on Saturday, saying: "We consider the pursuit of justice for this martyr to be the right of the Islamic Republic of Iran under international legal conventions."

Born in Isfahan in 1966, Nilforoushan began his military activities in the 1980s joining the Basij and later the IRGC, holding various positions including Deputy Commander of the IRGC Ground Forces for Operations.

Iranian media outlet Student News Network (SNN) described Nilforoushan as a “key figure” with extensive battlefield experience who played a crucial role in supporting the “Resistance Axis, including Hezbollah in Lebanon and Palestinian resistance groups,” helping to strengthen their capabilities against Israel.

Following the assassination of IRGC General Mohammad Reza Zahedi in an Israeli attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus in April, Nilforoushan “assumed command of the Lebanon front,” according to the Tehran-based Fararu website.

Nilforoushan was killed in an Israeli attack on a meeting between Nasrallah, top Hezbollah members, and IRGC commanders. In a statement about Nasrallah's death, Khamenei said that the meeting was focused on designing a military plan to counter the recent wave of Israeli attacks in Lebanon.

'Sanctioned for suppressing protests'

Nilforoushan was sanctioned by the United States in October 2022 in a round of sanctions targeting Iranian officials involved in the crackdown on nationwide protests, which erupted after the death of Mahsa Amini while in police custody for allegedly violating the Islamic Republic’s mandatory hijab laws.

In a statement, the US Treasury noted that Nilforoushan “played a critical role in arresting protest leaders during previous protests” and described him as an experienced IRGC commander who had also served as a military adviser during the Syrian Civil War.

Amid Iran’s nationwide protests, Nilforoushan took to social media with a message that appeared to blame the US for stoking unrest, saying: "Listen, Mr. Biden, this is not a country that can be overthrown by media operations. To bring down Iran, you would have to pass through a sea of blood, and you do not have the capability to cross it."