Iran International
A fierce battle has erupted inside Iran’s political establishment over the country’s future, with moderates urging sweeping reforms and hardliners branding their proposals a thinly veiled bid for regime change.
The dispute was set off on August 15 when former foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif published an essay in Foreign Policy titled “The Time for a Paradigm Shift Is Now.”
Zarif urged Iran to embrace “a new approach rooted in domestic reform,” warning that “warmongers benefit from closing every window to democracy.”
He called for a shift to a “possibilities paradigm” based on negotiation rather than confrontation.
Hardliners reacted with fury.
‘Delusional’
Outlets close to the Supreme Leader and the Revolutionary Guards — including Kayhan, Javan, and Vatan Emrooz — denounced the proposals as treasonous, delusional, and "capitulation" to the West.
Zarif was labeled an “anti-resistance liberal” who welcomed US and Israeli aggression as “blessings in disguise.”
Hardline commentator Abdollah Ganji accused moderates of “prioritizing personal power over national interests,” while Kayhan’s chief and supreme leader appointee Hossein Shariatmadari charged they were “ignoring global power dynamics.”
The clash comes as economic strain, political discontent, and renewed external pressure after the war with Israel sharpen the stakes for both camps.
‘Will of the people’
In recent weeks, former prime minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi and allies have issued open letters demanding democracy, while the Reform Front — an umbrella group of moderate and reformist figures — called for measures including suspension of uranium enrichment.
Former president Hassan Rouhani has also weighed in, advocating a “national strategy based on the will of the people.”
Beyond politicians, 180 economists urged a reordering of “Iran’s economic and political paradigms,” and 78 former diplomats pressed for a foreign policy more in tune with public sentiment.
The apparently concerted effort has been met by increasingly harsh reactions from the opposite camp.
In parliament, ultraconservatives such as Amir Hossein Sabeti and Hamid Rasai insisted the Islamic Republic must rely on resistance, not diplomacy, to survive.
Ganji also went after Rouhani personally, reminding readers that he once called for executing monarchy-era army officers in 1979, and warning he could “ultimately betray the revolution” like some of the Prophet’s disciples.
The battle is likely to intensify as pressure mounts, with the looming prospect of UN sanctions snapping back into place, the shadow of another war with Israel, and growing public frustration at home.
But as the reformist outlet Rouydad24 concluded, the exchanges have left “conservatives enraged, reformists uncertain, and the idea of national reconciliation in a state of lull.”
