By Pooya Stone
A senior Iranian official said that the people did not trust the regime after decades of “lies and lack of transparency”, citing the widespread dissatisfaction with the mullahs from the ordinary people.
Ahmad Tavakoli, a member of the Expediency Discernment Council, told the Etemad state-run daily that the problems faced by the people, ever-growing in number and scale, were the reason for the hatred of the mullahs.
He said: “Whatever we say, the people say it is a lie. We have to accept the fact that we have lied to the people and now the people have reached this conclusion and call us liars.”
Tavakoli’s remarks show the regime’s utter fear of another uprising and the restive Iranian society, given that his current role includes an advisory role to the regime’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei who handpicks all members of the Council.
Tavakoli said: “When a large number of officials in a political system lie to the people about issues and problems and cover up the truth, the people generalize this action to all the officials of that political system and do not say, for example, only one person lied and others did not. We have turned into the ‘Boy Who Cried Wolf’ and have to accept the fact that the people’s trust in us officials has decreased quite a bit compared to the past.”
He also noted that skepticism increases around political causes. Although he did not say why we know that it’s because the regime cracks down hard on political dissent.
Tavakoli then acknowledged to the corruption of a number of regime institutions, including:
- The Khamenei-controlled Bonyads for corruption and a lack of transparency
- The Mostazafan Foundation for allowing regime officials to enrich themselves with money earmarked for impoverished Iranians
While trying to attack the rival faction, he went even as far as accusing the regime of defaming Islam and said that he’d proposed a transparency plan to Khamenei’s Office in 2018, but it was rejected.
Tavakoli said: “We have to take measures that the people think would not be possible in the Islamic Republic. That is when people say to each other ‘some incidents that were not possible in the Islamic Republic took place, so changes are being made’.”
Of course, what he didn’t say is that these problems all stem from Khamenei, the most powerful and corrupt figure in the regime, with a net worth of $200 billion.
The Iranian people have been making this clear themselves. In recent protests, thousands of angry people chanted:
- “Commander in Chief, resign, resign”
- “Khamenei is a murderer and his rule is not valid”
- “Our Leader is our disgrace”
- “Death to the Velayat-e Faghih (Khamenei)”
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