Infighting among the Iranian regime’s ruling factions has entered a new phase. At a time when economic crisis, social discontent, and international isolation placed the regime under pressure, the power struggle among regime factions is now more visible than ever. The Tehran Prosecutor’s Office filing charges against Abbas Abdi and Sadegh Zibakalam is a new example of this deep rift within the regime’s structure.
Mizan news agency, affiliated with the Iranian regime’s judiciary, announced that charges had been filed against the two regime-affiliated figures because of an article by Abbas Abdi published in Etemad newspaper and an interview by Sadegh Zibakalam with ANA news agency. The move is not limited to individuals alone. The prosecutor’s office has also opened cases against the media outlets that published the materials. This shows that infighting among the regime’s factions has moved beyond hidden disputes.
Infighting among regime factions over war and crisis
In his article, Abbas Abdi referred to the role of hardline factions. He wrote: “Some forces close to power, without a real understanding of the country’s situation, are pushing for the continuation of tension-producing policies. The people are no longer willing to pay the price for the decisions of a rent-seeking minority.”
Le retour de l’infâme police secrète royale du Shah la SAVAK dans les rues d’Europe#FreeIran2026 #FreeIran10PointPlan #IranWarhttps://t.co/NsZo3VRjJM
— Iran Focus (@Iran_Focus) May 11, 2026
On the other hand, Sadegh Zibakalam, in an interview with ANA, a state-run news agency affiliated with Islamic Azad University, referred to the existence of organized pressure in regime-organized gatherings. He described some of these gatherings as attempts to push the regime toward extremist policies. Zibakalam also told the state-run ANA news agency: “Your indictment against America is always one-sided; meaning you only look at the ugly things Americans have done … You say the Americans shot down the Airbus, but you never ask why the Airbus was shot down?” These remarks angered hardline factions and once again brought infighting among regime factions into the media spotlight.
The escalation of these conflicts is not unrelated to the Iranian regime’s political and economic deadlocks. As crises deepen, power factions turn against one another to preserve their own share of influence. In recent years, regime figures have repeatedly exposed one another. Now, however, the severity of the crisis has reached a point where even longtime regime insiders no longer enjoy political security.
A rift that deepens every day
Infighting among the regime’s factions is not merely a simple political dispute. These conflicts are signs of the structural decay of a regime that for decades has been built on repression, censorship, and the elimination of opponents. Today, that same mechanism of elimination has also engulfed forces within the regime itself.
Today, infighting among the regime’s factions has become one of the clearest signs of crisis within the rule of the Supreme Leader. A regime that for years preserved its survival through repression of society is now embroiled in an internal war among power factions; a conflict that every day exposes deeper fractures in the decaying structure of the regime of oppressive mullahs.
