What drives Iran's hardliners: Power, policy, or profit?

Recent regional setbacks have further weakened Iran’s hardliners at home, with increasing criticism from within the establishment holding them responsible for mismanagement and misdirection in the country’s foreign and domestic affairs.

Having lost Syria in a dramatic and unexpected turn of events, Iran’s hardliners find themselves with little to defend their position. They have shifted their focus to heavily campaigning for the implementation of a restrictive new hijab law, while attempting to deflect blame for the insurgents' victory onto their long-time ally Assad. Some hardliners argue that Assad lacked sufficient commitment to Tehran’s “axis of resistance,” yet they struggle to explain why the Revolutionary Guard did not make greater efforts to defend him.

Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei attempted to address the issue on December 11, claiming that the United States and Israel had blocked all land and air routes to Syria. However, this explanation was widely viewed as unconvincing, particularly given Tehran’s long-standing boasts of regional supremacy.

On Saturday, the country’s national security council decided to shelve the hijab law, bowing to public opposition as well as criticism from numerous current and former officials, along with commentators permitted to speak through tightly-controlled media channels.

Despite this, hardliner Foad Izadi sparked widespread backlash on social media and Iranian news websites by arguing that the insistence on hijab enforcement serves a political purpose for the Islamic government. He claimed that supporters of the political system expect religious laws to be taken seriously by officials, warning that failing to do so risks eroding the Islamic Republic’s base of loyal supporters.

"The Islamic Republic does not see its benefit in giving in, because it believes the locomotive of the train it is riding on consists of a hard core of supporters who are loyal precisely because of these [policies]. If the Islamic Republic compromises on a few principles, this core of loyalists will be the first group to step off the train,” Izadi said during a video discussion published online.

Ironically, Izadi, who has become a staunch ideologue for Iran's hardliners, was educated in the United States from an early age and holds a PhD from the University of Louisiana. This apparent contradiction was not lost on a commentator from the reformist Aftab News website, who criticized Izadi for advocating hardline policies after benefiting from an education abroad.

Meanwhile, the relatively moderate Rouydad24 published a scathing article on Sunday targeting Izadi and his peers, accusing them of exploiting the hijab issue to tighten their control over the government. Matin Ghafarian, writing for Rouydad24, argued that these ultra-hardliners are not solely focused on enforcing stricter hijab regulations but are also intent on imposing broader counterproductive policies.

The article warned that such policies would further alienate the public, destabilize the Islamic government, and make it increasingly reliant on hardliner support. Rouydad24 wrote, "These individuals embody their own words—they are not easily satisfied. After making the establishment dependent on themselves, they begin to conquer the system step by step."

The website went even further, accusing ultra-hardliners of using political issues, such as the hijab, as a pretext to expand their influence for financial gain. By pressuring the government to adopt more extreme policies, they have exacerbated economic sanctions and deepened Iran’s isolation. This, in turn, has allowed them to leverage their influence to gain control over key economic sectors under the guise of rescuing the economy, often benefiting from government subsidies in the process.

Rouydad24 concluded, "The demands of this small group will not end until they have fully taken over the country’s economy. This group effectively traps the government in a cycle of decline—creating crises and feeding off them. In reality, we are not dealing with a fanatical and hotheaded group, but rather a cunning mafia intent on seizing control of all the country's economic resources."