Exclusion of last reformists from power in Iran reopens door to controversy

Eslam Mohamed

The Iranian political arena has recently witnessed the exclusion of the last reformists remaining in power, sparking sharp criticism and widespread debate about the regime’s plans to deal with this political current, which remained on the scene for a long time before its figures were successively removed from all authority.

The sudden resignation of Iranian Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Shamkhani came in a mysterious and hasty manner following a period of talk about the existence of differences between him and other leaders in the regime.

This step was vaguely announced by Shamkhani himself on his Twitter page, which the regime blocks from its citizens.

Shamkhani’s choice of this digital platform, as well as the confirmation of his resignation by the Nour News website, which is close to the Supreme National Security Council, also via Twitter, reveal the extent to which security officials are not convinced of the futility of blocking websites and the failure to choose internal applications known for their weakness and poor quality to announce the resignation.

The Mardom Salari newspaper also shed light on the fact that Shamkhani’s resignation was not similar to the previous resignations in the government of President Ebrahim Raisi and is closer to dismissal than to resignation, because he belongs to officials from the reign of former reformist President Hassan Rouhani.

The newspaper quoted Iranian reformist political activist Ahmad Zeidabadi, who questioned the feasibility of this change and what procedures are to be adopted by the new official who will assume the secretariat of the Supreme National Security Council to succeed Shamkhani, explaining that everything is vague and surrounded by a halo of ambiguity about the reason for this change and what the expected procedures.

Meanwhile, the Aftab-e Yazd newspaper pointed out that the appointment of Ali Akbar Ahmadian as Shamkhani’s successor was not expected, and that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei first appointed him to the Supreme National Security Council, and then President Raisi appointed him as the council’s secretary in a quick and coordinated move.

Aftab-e Yazd expected three scenarios for Shamkhani following his resignation from his position. The first is seeking to form a parliamentary alliance to run in the parliamentary elections and win the seat of the Parliament Speaker, while the second scenario is to run for president in the elections to be held in two years. The newspaper stressed that Shamkhani can also win the support of moderates and reformists to run in these elections and be the main candidate in the face of the fundamentalist current. As for the third scenario, it is moving away from the political scene and contenting himself with providing advice to Khamenei and the security and military institutions.

With the dismissal of Shamkhani, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has gotten rid of the last non-partisan reformist official in the government, after he held the position for eight years under the government of former President Hassan Rouhani.

The Jomleh newspaper noted that Shamkhani was removed from his position and did not resign voluntarily, while the Etemad newspaper discussed whether the reason behind dismissing Shamkhani was the hardliners’ fear of reviving the nuclear deal after Shamkhani succeeded in negotiating with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and agreeing to resume relations after a rupture that had lasted years.

It is worth noting that Ali Larijani had been prevented from running for president despite the fact that he had been Parliament Speaker for years. Nevertheless, the Guardian Council, which is loyal to Khamenei and the more hardline movement, decided to exclude him in order to make way for Raisi, who was head of the judiciary at the time.

These steps led the opposition demonstrators to despair of relying on the reformist movement to change the behavior of the regime. Before that, the demonstrators raised the slogan “Neither reformists nor fundamentalists, the story is over” and other slogans indicating their despair of the influential role of the reformists.