Discord within Iran's high-level leadership has become public! The Iranian president has been criticized for his weak stance! On March 8, according to Reuters, foreign media reported that a letter from Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian apologizing to Gulf countries caused strong opposition from other hardline decision-makers within Iran. An anonymous senior Iranian official said that this disagreement has spread to the current three-member interim governing committee. Pezeshkian was publicly criticized by at least one other member of the committee for his commitment to reducing attacks on neighboring Gulf countries.
Foreign media reported that at the same time, Iran is eager to promote Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's son Mojtaba Khamenei to his father's position. These series of moves indicate that the rift between the hardliners and moderates within the Iranian ruling class is expanding. The outside world is increasingly questioning whether Mojtaba Khamenei can be as capable as his father in fulfilling this role and bridging the differences among all parties. Obviously, if the foreign reports are true, what does this mean? It means that the division within Iran's high-level leadership has also become public.
On the surface, this is a dispute over the direction, but it may reflect a deeper power struggle. In fact, after Khamenei's death, the strategy of the moderate and pragmatic faction led by the Iranian president is to withdraw from the front lines, stabilize the surrounding areas, focus on opposing the US and Israel, and avoid a full-scale war. However, the hardliners represented by the Revolutionary Guard and the Judicial Chief believe that an apology is a sign of weakness and insist that "as long as neighboring countries provide convenience for US forces, they should strike," and will not compromise. Now, with Mojtaba Khamenei taking over, this is widely interpreted by the outside world as a move by the hardliners to marginalize the moderates.
Certainly, from the perspective of the power structure, the president has only one vote in the three-member interim committee. The current situation is clearly a victory for the hardliners. For Mojtaba Khamenei, the first challenge of his ascension is whether he can properly balance all sides, control the situation, and accumulate prestige during this crisis to secure his position. From the U.S. perspective, they certainly do not want the hardliners to always dominate the narrative. But from the perspective of stabilizing the situation, the moderate approach of the Iranian president actually aligns more with the expectation of de-escalating the tense situation.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1859059119760394/
Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.