Politicians Say Iran’s Economic Crisis Can Lead To Regime Collapse

A former head of Iran's Planning and Budget Organization says economic crisis will inevitably lead to the collapse of the regime, as others also voice pessimism.

A prominent ‘reformist’ politician also argues that the current popular distrust in the government leads the authorities to use a security approach against the people.

At the same time, a former Deputy Intelligence Minister and Government Spokesman says despite the nationwide uprising that started in September 2022, there is no prospect for change and reform in the country.

Former budget chief Massoud Roghani Zanjani speaking in a Club House chat session that years of inflation and poverty have brought the popular dissatisfaction to a peak and laid the ground for protests in Iran. 

Zanjani said that the current crisis is the outcome of clerics' intervention in politics and the conflict between elected and non-elected bodies in the government. He added that the non-elected bodies are where the clerics' power centers are. 

He further added that "When absolute power was given to the Supreme Leader in the 1987 revision of the Iranian Constitution, it was in fact similar to crossing out all other articles of the Constitution." He pointed out that since then, Ali Khamenei has undermined the Constitution by actions such as giving executive powers to the heads of the three branches of the government. 

Zanjani said one of the reasons for the country's economic crisis is that Iran has two treasuries, one for the government, and another for Khamenei's office. He further charged that privileges given to the clerics has created an apartheid regime in their favor. 

Meanwhile, prominent reformist figure Feyzollah Arabsorkhi said in an interview with Rouydad24 website that people's distrust of the government, has encouraged officials to use security measures as a tool against the people. 

He added that what is going on in the parliament and the government is diagonally different from what people expect. Arabsorkhi said, "Just look at the government's views about the Internet and social media. It reflects the views of the hard core of the government about freedom of speech.” Under these circumstances, you cannot expect the people to trust the government when it tries all the time to restrict people's access to the Internet.

"People's distrust in the government and its efficiency are currently the biggest problems the authorities are facing," Arabsorkhi said, adding that "People do not believe what rulers say, and if the government wishes to correct this situation it should respond positively to popular demands and expectations. 

He added that the hijab law that is currently being discussed secretly at the parliament without paying attention to the people's views and expectations is one of the examples why Iranians have lost trust in the government. The state television which could have acted as mediator between the people and the government acts so unilaterally that there is no trace of the people's demands in its programming.

Meanwhile, former government spokesman Ali Rabiei wrote in Etemad Online website that there is still no prospect for reforms and correcting mistakes made by the government despite several months of nationwide protests. 

"On the contrary, in some cultural issues we see that the government is putting a step back," Rabiei said, presumably referring to compulsory hijab.

Rabiei insisted that failure to bring about a clear prospect for reforms in foreign and economic policies, and improve governance will adversely affect turnout in the upcoming parliamentary elections.