Despite Khamenei’s warning to avoid admitting failures publicly, regime officials openly attacked the government in parliament, revealing deep internal rifts.
On Sunday, September 7, Iran regime’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei met with Masoud Pezeshkian’s cabinet and senior regime officials, warning them against openly admitting the state’s failures. He acknowledged the severity of Iran’s economic crisis but insisted: “When officials speak before the people, they should not be narrators of weakness, incapacity, and despair, but narrators of power and the country’s capabilities.”
Pezeshkian echoed the Supreme Leader’s message, calling for unity and declaring: “If we stand together and put aside our differences, no power can bring us to our knees.”
Yet within 24 hours, Khamenei’s appeal for unity collapsed inside the regime’s own parliament.
Parliament Turns on Pezeshkian’s Government
At a fiery session of the Majlis, lawmakers openly attacked the government and exposed internal fractures. Hossein Ali Haji Deligani targeted Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, accusing him of secret concessions to Egypt and the International Atomic Energy Agency. He thundered: “Mr. Araghchi, what are you doing? If you go beyond what the law permits, we will punish you. We will summon you, impeach you, and refer you to court.”
His microphone was abruptly cut off to prevent further escalation, but the message was clear: divisions at the top are widening.
The following day, MP Mohammad Hosseini-Kia attacked Central Bank chief Mohammad Reza Farzin, declaring: “The Central Bank is dead. Every day, with his mismanagement, the value of the national currency declines. There is no one more incompetent in the country than Mr. Farzin.” He too threatened impeachment.
Other lawmakers piled on. Mohammad-Hossein Aryaeinejad dismissed Pezeshkian’s call for “unity,” calling it “hypocrisy,” while Mohsen Hedayat-Moghadam blasted the government’s record: “The president’s performance is zero, the labor minister’s performance is zero, and the governor’s performance is zero.” He added a stark warning: “We are not afraid of the U.S. or Israel, but social challenges are turning into political and security crises. Unemployment and social unrest are the real threat.”
Cracks Beyond Parliament
These internal disputes followed earlier public acknowledgments of disillusionment within the system. In late August, Ahmad Alamolhoda, Khamenei’s representative in Mashhad, admitted in his Friday sermon: “They say don’t listen to state TV because it’s all lies. Don’t listen to officials because their reports are false. Now they say don’t listen to the Leader because his words are repetitive.”
Even regime media has admitted the danger. On September 2, the daily Siasat-e Rooz warned that the pension crisis could trigger mass protests: “When workers and retirees see their years of contributions destroyed and no serious effort by the government to save them, what remains but despair and anger? This is not just an accounting problem but a looming social and security crisis. If protests by millions of retirees erupt, the shock to the economy and political system will be enormous. If the government continues to do nothing, the explosion point is not far away.”
A Fractured Regime Under Pressure
These developments reveal the stark contradiction between Khamenei’s demand for officials to project strength and the regime’s inability to conceal its deep crises. The very next day, members of parliament became the “narrators of weakness” Khamenei had warned against, underscoring the regime’s paralysis and disarray.
At the core lies a profound fear: that Iran’s worsening economic and social crises, combined with rising public discontent, will soon translate into an uncontrollable political upheaval.
