Hardline daily says chaos in Iran is what US wants from nuclear talks

Warnings of unrest are growing louder in Iran, with the hardline daily Kayhan the latest to raise the alarm—pointedly avoiding Tehran’s governance failures and instead pinning potential protests on Washington and its alleged scheming.

“All evidence suggests that, contrary to its public posture, America is not genuinely focused on Iran’s nuclear issue or enrichment levels,” wrote Kayhan editor Hossein Shariatmadari, who is appointed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

“From America’s perspective, the final destination of the negotiations is inciting sedition and creating unrest inside the country,” Shariatmadari said, suggesting that Washington aims to drag out the talks until protests erupt.

The tone is notable. While Kayhan routinely blames foreign actors for domestic troubles, its explicit anticipation of unrest places it—at least on the outcome—in rare alignment with more moderate voices warning of a volatile summer.

“Chaos is imminent,” former vice president Eshaq Jahangiri told the reformist daily Arman Melli on Monday, “not just because of sanctions, but because public trust in the state has collapsed.”

Jahangiri blamed successive governments for failing to implement the 20-year development plan launched in 2005 to position Iran as the region’s leading economic and technological power.

“Not a single administration has carried out the vision set in the five-year strategies,” he said. “Iran was once on par with Saudi Arabia and Turkey… now we lag behind them—and behind smaller Persian Gulf states.”

Such warnings have intensified in recent weeks, as Iran’s energy crisis deepens. The country faces a 25-gigawatt electricity shortfall this summer, according to the influential economic daily Donya-ye Eqtesad, which on Monday warned of a looming “socio-economic explosion.”

The paper—typically technocratic in tone—now says the power shortage has escalated from a solvable issue to a full-blown national crisis.

In recent days, poultry farmers, bakers, and produce vendors have voiced their frustration in interviews with foreign-based Persian media. Meanwhile, truck drivers in over a hundred towns and cities continue their strike despite a police crackdown and arrests.

Touching on the broader climate of discontent, Jahangiri warned that the Islamic Republic’s social capital has been steadily eroding for two decades.

“This level of regression will not be easily remedied,” he concluded.