Amid Smear Campaign in Iran, Many Warn of Looming Misery

A few days before the runoff election that will decide whether the relatively moderate Massoud Pezeshkian or the ultraconservative Saeed Jalili becomes President of Iran, a fierce smear campaign is raging between the two.

Jalili's campaign posts old videos of Pezeshkian that show him making statements about his role in hijab enforcement and purging the universities during the so-called cultural revolution of the 1980. Those close to Pezeshkian's campaign run articles to prove that Jalili is supported by one of the most fundamentalist clerics in Iran.

A specific article links Jalili to hardline cleric Mohammad Mehdi Mirbagheri, who was reportedly behind the chemical attacks on girls' schools in 2022 and 2023. It also claims that the ideology Jalili subscribes to is detrimental to the country's development.

Those opposed to the government-controlled election doctor and merge the pictures of the two candidates alleging that the two men are part and parcel of the same system, calling them "the two halves of the same apple."

Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has warned the candidates against engaging in smear campaigns more than once. While groups close to their campaigns are clearly involved in these tactics, a larger political force appears to be at play. Election boycotters and foreign-based opposition forces are trying to persuade voters to stay away from the polls on Friday. According to official numbers, at least 60 percent of voters stayed home during the first round on June 28, and the opposition is aiming for an even more extensive boycott this time.

Referring to the serious divide between the majority of voters and the government, former lawmaker Gholamali Jafarzadeh Imanabadi said that even some deeply religious people are refusing to take part in the election.

Meanwhile, a report on moderate conservative Khabar Online website also highlighted the link between Jalili and Mirbagheri, dubbing Mirbagheri as the new Mesbah Yazdi, the founding father of the ultraconservative Paydari Party. Mirbagheri, who has endorsed Jalili, is known for his belief in conspiracy theories and the clash of civilizations theory.

Their ideology, the article charged, that the fundamentalist group believes it is the mission of the Islamic Republic to to change the nature of the world and to take it back to the "Islamic civilization." They call moderate Islam the "American Islam."

In another development, former President Hassan Rouhani warned "officials," presumably including Khamenei and his aides that "the coming to power of a radical government in Iran will drag the country to the brink of war, more sanctions, poverty and misery. The forming of such a government will be a loss for everyone, whether they vote or not."

Rouhani also warned the boycotters that they would bear full responsibility for the consequences of their actions. He further cautioned those who are passively observing the situation that this is a matter of war and peace, life and death, and that inaction will not protect anyone.

He described the runoff election as a choice between Pezeshkian and Jalili, framing it as a decision between realistic progress and a "wishful U-turn" that could impact the fate of the Iranian nation for at least a decade.