Following a series of appointments of Revolutionary Guards commanders (IRGC) to key positions in Iran, including provincial governors, while many Iran experts consider these appointments as the regime’s fear of upcoming protests, now on November 3, 2021, Ebrahim Raisi, Iran’s president, appointed Mohammad Taghi Shahcheraghi as the governor of Qom.

This action is something that even raised the concern of the regime’s elements. Days before, Saeed Hajarian one of the experts of the regime’s so-called reformist faction, in an interview with the state-run website Ensaf News pointed to this action, choosing the country’s governors from IRGC commanders, and said:

“Just have a look at the composition of the governors. It seems that they are preparing for war. By considering this composition, it is unlikely that this government will be able to solve the country’s problems. The reality is that the people are suffering from mismanagement and the accumulation of the crises.”

Now let have a look at the records of Mohammad Taghi Shahcheraghi. Mohammad Taghi Shahcheraghi was born in 1961 in Qom. His father Seyyed Mohammad Shahcheraghi is a mullah who was the regime supreme leader Ali Khamenei’s representative and the Friday Prayer’s Leader in Semnan province until August 2021. He is now a member of the Assembly of Experts. He was one of the most notorious clerics in the province and was involved in the repression of the regime’s opponents in the 80s.

Mohammad Taghi Shahcheraghi has entered the seminary of Qom after studying in this city and graduating, Shahcheraghi has a master’s degree in management.

He was one of the commanders of Ali Ibn Abi Talib’s 17th Division. After the Iran-Iraq War, he was the commander of the IRGC in the provinces of Semnan, Golestan, Markazi, and Mazandaran. In December 2017, he was appointed as the commander of the Seyyed al-Shohada Corps, and since October 2017, he has been the commander of the Ali Ibn Abi Talib Corps in Qom province.

The state-run newspaper Hamdeli about the appointment of governors and new ministers from the commanders of the IRGC wrote: “The IRGC is one of the security and military institutions that everyone knows has a close relationship with Raisi’s government. Although nepotism cannot be attributed to Raisi’s government, sectarianism and gangsterism can be seen in it.”

Finally, Hamdeli warned the regime about such a decision and wrote: “When the economic pressure on the people exceeds their toleration, these pressures will lead to street protests and will increase the intensity of the social explosion as well.”

This is something that Saeed Hajarian warned about too.

“From now on, the nature of the protests will be like that after the gasoline incident, that is, the protests of 2019. They want to reduce or remove hidden subsidies.

“On the other hand, this year we have a budget deficit as much as the budget itself, and this means that inflation will increase. If they remove energy subsidies, eliminate food and water subsidies, you will see how inflation will rise. How should people live?

“When things go awry, there is no choice! The Foreign Minister is seeking 5 billion. $ 5 billion? For the billions of dollars, we need?”

Regarding the fate of the regime, Hajarian said: “The Islamic Republic is currently just strong enough to stand on its feet. But the distance between the people and the government is very large. Distrust has increased too much. The container of our social capital is punctured.”