Iran International
Recent reports in Western outlets on alleged shifts inside Iran’s ruling establishment—particularly the growing role of Ali Larijani—have triggered a mix of denials, dismissals and cautious commentary in Tehran.
The reports come amid heightened tensions between Iran and the United States, as indirect talks continue while President Donald Trump has repeatedly warned that military strikes remain an option if diplomacy fails and Washington has expanded its military presence in the region.
The New York Times cited Iranian officials this week as saying Tehran has prepared contingency plans in case of war with the United States or Israel, including scenarios in which senior leaders—even Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei—could be killed.
According to the report, the planning is designed to ensure continuity of the Islamic Republic under extreme circumstances, with several senior figures named as part of that contingency structure, including security chief Larijani, parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and former president Hassan Rouhani.
The report also suggested that Larijani’s expanding role has reduced the visible influence of President Masoud Pezeshkian in day-to-day governance.
Separately, Le Figaro published a controversial account alleging that during the height of nationwide protests Khamenei was the target of an internal effort led by Rouhani to sideline him from crisis management.
According to the French newspaper, Rouhani gathered several political figures—including former foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, clerics from Qom and individuals linked to the Revolutionary Guards—to discuss an alternative leadership arrangement.
Le Figaro said the effort ultimately failed, partly because Larijani did not support the initiative. Rouhani’s office rejected the account outright, describing it as a US-Israeli “fabrication” aimed at “creating doubt and concern in Iranian public opinion.”
Larijani has not publicly addressed either report.
Following the 12-day war with Israel, Khamenei appointed Larijani as secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, despite the Guardian Council previously disqualifying him from running in the presidential election.
Salar Velayatmadar, a member of parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, said Larijani now plays “a decisive role in policymaking.”
“The council’s view is central in indirect negotiations with the United States,” he said. “Basically, the negotiations are taken from this council, word by word.”
Iranian media widely republished the New York Times and Le Figaro reports but mostly avoided detailed analysis.
The conservative newspaper Farhikhtegan dismissed the French report as a “fictional scenario” and a “diverse basket of strategic lies,” arguing that such narratives were designed to undermine “national cohesion.”
By contrast, the news outlet Eghtesad24 suggested the New York Times report portrays Larijani as a “crisis manager” operating across multiple arenas—from nuclear diplomacy to regional strategy and wartime planning.
Despite relying on unnamed sources, the outlet wrote, the report reflects an apparent effort by Iran’s political system to adapt to a more dangerous regional environment by strengthening internal coordination and resilience.
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.