Iran International
As indirect contacts between Tehran and Washington continue and regional actors push to keep negotiations alive, competing signals continue to emerge from Iran's political establishment.
On Thursday, the Revolutionary Guards said no lasting calm would be achieved in the region unless Israel withdrew from Lebanese territory and halted attacks, while senior adviser Mohsen Rezaei insisted Iran would not give a “green light” to negotiations until all of its demands were met.
Against that backdrop, two political insiders from different camps have issued unusually direct warnings about Iran's domestic vulnerabilities, arguing that economic hardship and the widening gap between the state and society could fuel renewed unrest.
In a June 1 interview with the moderate daily Etemad, prominent centrist politician Hossein Marashi described a deep structural and cultural disconnect between the state and society.
He warned that unless the political system adapts by addressing economic inefficiencies, acknowledging cultural differences and creating channels for dissent, unrest will continue to recur.
The leadership in Tehran, Marashi argued, remains at odds with a large segment of the population over cultural and political issues and should align governance with the expectations of at least 70% of society.
According to him, the divide between state and society has become so entrenched that many Iranians now separate their attachment to the country from their view of the government.
Marashi also said one of the Islamic Republic's fundamental failures has been its inability to build a strong economy and a trusted judiciary. Protests, he argued, should not be viewed as isolated incidents but as repeated expressions of accumulated public frustration.
A similar theme emerged this week in an op-ed by reformist commentator Nasser Zakeri in Sharq newspaper.
Reviewing Iran's recent military and geopolitical challenges, Zakeri contrasted what he described as the resilience of Iran's defense sector with decades of economic underperformance marked by unemployment, chronic inflation and weak productivity.
He argued that policymakers should use the experience of the past year to identify which institutions proved resilient under pressure and which did not.
Zakeri also challenged those who portray revision as a betrayal of the Islamic Republic's core principles, arguing that even policies once considered successful must be reassessed when circumstances change.
Such arguments remain politically sensitive in a system where calls for reform or revision are often portrayed by hardliners as attempts to weaken the ideological foundations of the state.
Although Marashi and Zakeri approached the issue from different angles—one focusing on public dissatisfaction and the other on institutional performance—both arrived at a similar conclusion: military strength and crisis management alone cannot guarantee long-term stability unless the political system addresses deeper economic, social and political grievances.
Late on Thursday, reports emerged that Pakistan's Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi would return to Tehran as part of efforts to keep the Iran-US negotiating track alive.
The diplomatic process remains uncertain. But the warnings from Marashi and Zakeri suggest that, for some voices inside the establishment, the more pressing question may be whether the state can address the domestic challenges that persist regardless of whether negotiations succeed.
According to the information obtained by Iran International, the order to keep Paydari supporters away from the gatherings was issued after requests by President Masoud Pezeshkian and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who also heads Tehran’s negotiating team.
Protesters carrying placards opposing concessions on the nuclear issue have also been removed from the state-backed rallies, according to the same information.
The move points to an effort by senior figures in the Islamic Republic to contain ultra-hardline pressure at a sensitive moment, as Tehran and Washington continue talks over a possible understanding involving the ceasefire, the Strait of Hormuz, frozen Iranian assets and nuclear-related terms.
The Paydari Front and its allies have been among the most vocal opponents of negotiations with the United States. In recent days, figures close to the camp have criticized Ghalibaf and the negotiating team, warning against concessions and arguing that talks with Washington amount to a mistake.
The reported removals came as the Islamic Republic held the first anniversary ceremony for Ruhollah Khomeini since the killing of Ali Khamenei, without the former supreme leader’s presence.
During the ceremony on Thursday, Mojtaba Khamenei issued a message warning against what he called doubt, despair, fear and suspicion.
The message, read by Mohammad-Javad Haj-Ali-Akbari, Tehran’s interim Friday prayer leader, said any action that causes public pessimism or disillusionment amounts to helping the enemy.
