He attempted to cover up breathtaking conflicts between the highest officials and the explosive conditions of the society. Rouhani’s claims were not only refused by his rivals inside the regime, but also caused his own allies to make fun of him.
The reality is that Rouhani’s press meeting, after 20 months, was held to pretend that the regime has departed from dangerous situation. This pretense, however, further caused disgust and hate instead of resolving any social or political problems for the government. On October 15, Aftab-e Yazd, a pro-Rouhani newspaper, pointed out to this fact, writing:
“These ceremonial interviews that are assigned to specific reporters and questions do not convince the public opinion in this situation because people are concerned about what they see in the political scene and what exists on their table in the economic area.”
On the other hand, Rouhani is well aware that he has no power to adopt any decision without the permission of the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Therefore, the regime’s president prefers to not engage with his rivals rather than taking any position which results consequences. In this regard, on October 15, Jahan-e Sanat, a pro-Rouhani newspaper, wrote:
“Yesterday, Hassan Rouhani did not say anything that would bring responsibility for him, or at least discussed tied his comments and responsibilities to a lot of different conditions. For example, when he was frankly asked about the 4th step [of the regime’s plans to reduce its commitments under the nuclear deal], he pretended that he did not hear and avoided to respond.”
Rouhani’s other statements were so ridiculous and irrelevant that his own allies made fun of them under title, “Good is good, and bad in bad.”
Rouhani’s allies expected their president to use the social hate against Ali Khamenei and attack rivals, as he did in his famous speech in May 2018, when he said, “The people won’t vote for those just know prison and execution over 38 years.” Rouhani’s fellow hoped to use his speech as a fuel for their electoral campaign for next Iran parliament election in March. Rouhani, however, withdrew from his previous position about Guardian Council and said, “Despite some people interpreted and analyzed my speech, I did not mean that some institute is doing well or not, we respect all institutes.”
Hassan Rouhani, despite his attempts to style himself as a moderate, did not dare to speak about the rights of women and citizenship rights.
The question, in fact, is what is the rank of Hassan Rouhani in this state?
The reality is the Iranian people refuse the game of so-called reformists versus hardliners as they chanted in their slogans during nationwide protests in 2018: “Reformists, hardliners, the game is over.” Therefore, Rouhani, as the head of reformists in the regime, has no credibility in the society and the people refuse the governing rule in its entirety.
Furthermore, the regime president himself underscored this reality, saying, “We moved into a new phase after January 2018. These conditions have been sparked inside the country and followed beyond.”
As we witnessed during Rouhani’s latest trip to New York, he proved that he has no authority in making decisions even about JCPOA and resuming negotiations with the United States without permission of the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
In conclusion, the end of Hassan Rouhani’s masquerade sends a clear message to the international community that the time of turning a blind eye to the right of the Iranian people and their organized resistance for overthrowing the religious fascism is up. Major powers must recognize Iranians’ struggle for establishing a democratic government, which is symbolized by anti-regime activities of the “resistance units,” the vast network of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK)’s supporters inside Iran.
