High-ranking current and former Iranian officials acknowledge that the regime is facing a slew of crises that could easily collapse the mullahs, much like the Shah was deposed in 1979.
President Hassan Rouhani remarked last week that the number of Iranians who support the regime is decreasing by the day, and questioned where national solidarity, national interest, and security had gone.
Rouhani issued the following statement in response to the growing danger of an election boycott later this month, “participation and ballot box are our most important issues. Let no one say out of ignorance that it does not matter if just a few people participate in the elections.”
On the same day, former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad predicted that low voter turnout would have a significant influence both at home and abroad until the regime collapsed and was unable to rise again:
“I feel the threat of rebellion by the hungry population every day. Society is on the verge of an explosion. The situation in the country is bad and of course, it has never been so bad, and as this situation continues, it will get much worse very quickly.”
Ali Khamenei, the regime’s supreme leader, has become fearful of low voter turnout and major protests after he attempted to consolidate power by having the Guardian Council remove many top officials who were running for president this year, despite the fact that they had been involved in some of the regime’s worst crimes.
On 26 May, the state-run Arman news agency reported: “Really, what is the insistence on imposing costs on the country in disqualifying personalities such as Ali Larijani, Eshagh Jahangiri, Mohsen Hashemi Rafsanjani, Ezzata-Allah Zarghami, Massoud Pezeshkian, etc.
from the 2021 presidential election? … What has been the result of the disqualification of such personalities, which they still insist on? What is the real cost to the country of discrediting prominent figures of the country by the Guardian Council?”
On 2 June, the state-run channel Vatan-e-Emrooz issued a statement warning of polarisation in the election and its irreversible consequences: “An uncalculated confrontation with a rival candidate reinforces the risk of polarizing public space to change the face of the election.
They should also be maximally aware of the movements and scenarios of their rival current and prevent this partnership from being resolved under false dipoles.
“The gap between the current state of society and the election promises of 2017 is a good indication of what the end of the emotional atmosphere and maneuvering with the false bipolarities can lead to an irreparable damage to the country.” Vatan-e-Emrooz continued, on 2 June.
The Setareh-e-Sobh daily cautioned regime officials not to make security or threatening comments, “In recent days, we have witnessed several viewpoints which will weaken the democracy, that is highly emphasized in the constitution, and the fact is that such behavior will not lead to maximum participation of the people in the elections and their presence at the ballot box.”
These officials who are warning of the mullahs’ collapse have spent four decades immersed in the regime’s atrocities, from human rights violations to terrorism, emphasizing that the regime’s internal crisis is worsening by the day.
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