Iran International
Mounting pressure on President Masoud Pezeshkian’s administration from hardline opponents and an ailing economy appears to be cutting deep into his inner circle, triggering resignations, public spats and mistrust.
Recent departures and high-profile clashes demonstrate that misgivings within the 18-month-old administration have spilled into public view.
Fayyaz Zahed, a senior adviser, publicly quit last week.
In a sharply worded letter, Zahed denounced several recent appointments as “embarrassing” and reflective of “bad taste,” singling out the choice of Sagheb Esfahani—a hardliner with no experience in the energy sector—to head Iran’s energy optimization body.
Zahed’s colleague Mohammad Mohajeri later quoted him as telling Pezeshkian: “If you want a silent apologist as your adviser, please be advised that genuine opinion cannot be bought with orders and directives.”
Jafar the kingmaker
Much of the internal disarray is now being linked to the expanding influence of Vice President Mohammad Jafar Ghaempanah—an old friend, wartime companion and arguably the president’s closest confidant.
Reports from Khabar Online and outlets aligned with Majles Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf accuse Ghaempanah of driving a series of controversial appointments and sidelining more experienced advisers.
Hardline media have seized on the moment, describing the resignations—grudgingly accepted by Pezeshkian—as evidence of a broader administrative failure, one that neither the president nor his deputies can reverse.
These departures land at a time when Iran’s economy is dragging under renewed sanctions, high inflation, frustrated expectations from the post-election period and a sense that Pezeshkian has struggled to articulate a coherent economic direction.
Hardline outlets including Javan, Kayhan and Sobh-e No have amplified that narrative, arguing that the president’s inability to rein in his inner circle has compounded the economic drift.
The line of attack is clear: factional meddling and poor personnel decisions are not just political missteps—they are undermining governance at a moment of national fragility.
VP Aref next?
Against this backdrop, pro-Ghalibaf media such as Sobh-e No and Khorassan now claim that First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref has submitted his resignation.
The government has not confirmed the reports. Some accounts suggest the trigger is Aref’s escalating clashes with Ghaempanah and Chief of Staff Mohen Hajimirzai. Others say Aref grew frustrated with the “limited scope” of his role.
Aref himself has been criticized by both conservatives and moderates for taking on more responsibilities than his capacity allowed.
If Pezeshkian accepts Aref’s resignation, Ghaempanah would become the president’s last remaining senior vice president, consolidating his position as the most influential figure in the administration’s inner ring.
One anecdote from a recent provincial visit has circulated widely: after one too many sycophantic compliments from Ghaempanah, Pezeshkian reportedly snapped, “Come off it!”
Sasan Karimi, an aide to former foreign minister Javad Zarif, later quipped on social media: “The country would have been better off if Jafar (Ghaempanah) really did come off it. Sometimes the biggest obstacles lie within the innermost circles.”
Together, the confirmed exit of Zahed, the deepening feud around Ghaempanah, the economic malaise, and the swirl of unverified but persistent reports surrounding Aref paint a picture of an administration under severe strain and struggling to hold itself up.
Tehran’s unveiling of a towering statue depicting the Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling before pre-Islamic Persian King Shapur I has renewed criticism of the Islamic Republic’s appeal to nationalist sentiment following the June war with Israel.
For over forty years, the theocracy purged ancient Persian history from schoolbooks, replacing it with post-Islamic narratives. But after the 12-day conflict with Israel, officials have turned to the distant pre-Islamic past to rally a divided society.
From murals of ancient kings and soldiers to patriotic songs added to Shi’ite mourning ceremonies performed before Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Tehran now embraces imagery once deemed heretical by its own revolutionary ethos.
'Kneel before Iran' campaign
Tehran’s Revolution (Enghelab) Square was the scene of an unusual spectacle on Friday as officials unveiled a massive bronze statue depicting Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling in submission before Sassanid King Shapur I, commemorating Iran’s victory at the Battle of Edessa (260 AD).
The event was held under the slogan “Kneel before Iran,” part of what authorities describe as a campaign to project “national unity and historical pride” following the June war with Israel.
Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani, a staunch ultraconservative, said on X: “Enmity with Great Iran can only end in kneeling before this historic nation.”
Municipal official Davood Goodarzi said the installation would be accompanied by visual displays depicting “other victories of Iranians over foreign aggressors,” including the defeat of British forces by local commander Rais-Ali Delvari, Mirza Kuchak Khan’s resistance against Russian troops, and Surena’s triumph over Rome at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BCE.
The goal, Goodarzi said, is “strengthening concepts such as national dignity, social unity, and Iranian identity.”
The statue, he said, would remain temporarily at Revolution Square before being moved to a city gateway “where it will stand as the first emblem of Iran before diplomats and foreign visitors.”
Unveiled women were allowed to attend the unveiling ceremony—an uncommon scene at events organized by Tehran’s ultra-hardline municipality.
The turn to the pre-Islamic past
The sharp reversal also recalls remarks once made by Khamenei. In a 2011 speech, he asserted that “all the great military victories of this nation came after Islam,” dismissing pre-Islamic accounts as “things that are not documented.”
In 1987, he had said that prophets triumphed over kings such as Cyrus and that “nothing remains of these monarchs in history but names remembered with derision.”
Nevertheless, pro-government social media accounts have now gone so far as to circulate posters equating Khamenei himself with Shapur, showing him standing with a staff as Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump kneel before him. The caption reads: “You will kneel before Iran.”
'Hypocrisy'
Pro-government figures have hailed the move as a patriotic success. Conservative political reporter Hossein Saremi posted: “Today’s grand Iranian gathering showed that people and the state share one essence: Iran itself. Nothing can take our homeland away.”
Others, however, called the spectacle “hypocrisy.” Journalist Gholamhossein Pashaei wrote on X: “Every year you close Pasargadae to stop people from celebrating Cyrus Day, yet you unveil Shapur’s statue in Enghelab Square with drums and fireworks during Fatimiyya (mourning period)!”
Dissident commentator Hamid Asafi called the ceremony “a perfect snapshot of the Islamic Republic’s contradictions.”
On Telegram he wrote: “A week ago they closed Cyrus’s tomb out of fear of the crowds, and now they glorify Shapur in the same breath. The Islamic Republic fears living history but poses for selfies with its corpse.”
He added: “They know people no longer respond to rosaries and sermons. That’s why they’ve brought history back to the stage—in a controlled costume. If they can’t erase the past, they’ll try to own it.”
The irony deepened as UNESCO formally recognized Cyrus’s Charter as one of the earliest human-rights documents.
President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on X: “Iran, the cradle of dialogue, justice, and coexistence, can still inspire peace today.”
Users swiftly replied, questioning how such pride could coexist with a government that blocks access to Cyrus’s tomb each year to those wishing to visit it on his birthday.