In Search of Unity, Iran Honors its Khomeinist Legacy This Week

The Islamic Republic of Iran’s revolutionary regime has faced both internal and external pressure in recent weeks. Domestically, Iran faces protests in marginalized communities on Iran's periphery and a trucker strike which, taken together, indicate that the widespread dissatisfaction evinced by the massive late December-early January protests that spread throughout the country, remains. Although Iran was able to suppress the mass protest movement, it appears that intense, smaller-scale protests will pose a nuisance to the regime for the foreseeable future. Iran’s domestic unrest is compounded by growing economic uncertainty as it awaits the likely re-imposition of suspended nuclear sanctions and the exodus of foreign companies in the aftermath of the Trump administration’s decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal.

The mounting economic pressures due to widespread mismanagement and corruption, have emboldened Iranians to increasingly finger the country’s revolutionary system and leadership as the source of the nation’s problems, rather than familiar scapegoats such as the U.S. and Israel. The economic promise of the nuclear deal never materialized for average Iranians, as the billions of dollars in previously frozen assets and increased trade and investment were siphoned into foreign adventurism, bloated military budgets, and further enrichments for the supreme leader, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and their affiliated patronage networks. The Iranian populace, meanwhile, faces rising unemployment, rampant inflation, inadequate infrastructure, and various environmental crises. These issues are particularly acutely felt in ethnic minority communities which have long been neglected by the state.

Among the chants at recent demonstrations in Kazerun was “Our enemy is right here; liars say it is America.” Some protestors went so far as to explicitly call for armed uprising against the regime, chanting provocative slogans such as, “Be afraid when we get guns” and “We will kill the traitors.” The regime has not faced open questioning of its legitimacy to this extent since the Green Movement protests following the contested 2009 presidential election.

In response to these growing challenges, the upper echelons of Iran’s elected and unelected leadership have sought to project an aura of unity, doubling down on “resistance” to both internal protests and U.S.-led economic pressure. Rather than adopting the necessary steps that would lead to the easing of sanctions, Iran’s government is exploring ramping back up its uranium enrichment activities and moving toward a “resistance economy” predicated on self-sufficiency over reliance on oil exports and foreign trade. In practice, this has meant capitulation by the moderate and reformist camps led by President Hassan Rouhani to the imperatives of the supreme leader and IRGC.  The mounting frustrations of Rouhani’s core constituencies over his failure to produce meaningful social, political, and economic reforms have left him increasingly at the mercy of Supreme Leader Khamenei and the IRGC for his political survival. Rouhani has therefore dropped the language of reform and backed off calls to rein in the IRGC’s  domination over Iran’s political and economic spheres, seeking accommodation with the Guards instead.

Against this backdrop, Iran this week celebrates two public holidays commemorating its revolutionary heritage. On Monday, Iran marked the 29^th anniversary of the passing of Ayatollah Khomeini, the founding father of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Khomeini’s radical ideology, predicated upon a modern innovation in Shi’a doctrine that endows a learned Islamic cleric with the role of supreme leader who holds final religious and political authority over all affairs of state, provides the intellectual underpinnings for the Iranian state’s authoritarian governance and its conspiratorial, anti-western outlook.

Notably, President Rouhani and Ayatollah Khomeini’s grandson, Hassan Khomeini, a prominent reformist, had their speeches canceled. Rouhani has previously used the occasion of Khomeini’s passing to pledge fealty to the Islamic Revolution and Supreme Leader Khamenei. The ostensible reason given was  time constraints according to Tasnim News Agency, an outlet with strong ties to the IRGC. The cancelation seems to indicate, however, an effort to marginalize reformist voices in the current climate and undermine Rouhani.

Supreme Leader Khamenei, meanwhile, used the occasion to highlight Iran’s defiant international posture. In his speech commemorating Khomeini’s legacy, Khamenei struck an intransigent tone, offering soundbites like “Tehran will attack 10 times more if attacked by enemies ... The enemies don’t want an independent Iran in the region.” Khamenei also vowed that Iran would not be deterred from advancing its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, declaring, “Our enemies will never be able to halt our nuclear progress. … I have ordered Iran’s atomic energy agency to be prepared to upgrade our (uranium) enrichment capacity. … Limiting our missile work is a dream that will never come true.”

Khamenei also proclaimed, “We will continue our support for oppressed nations” during his speech, a theme which leads into the planned international celebrations of Quds Day this coming weekend. Held annually on the last Friday of Ramadan, Quds Day is an international day of protest organized by the Iranian government against Israel. Established by Ayatollah Khomeini months after assuming power in 1979, Khomeini envisioned Quds Day as part of a “long-term pragmatic strategy in a bid to launch a justice-based peace in the region and reclaim the rights of the oppressed Palestinian nation,” which entails the elimination of “Zionist” control over Israel and the return of Israel to the Palestinians. Iran and its surrogates around the world stage ceremonies which typically feature calls for hostilities against Israel and the elimination of the “Zionist regime. “Death to Israel” is a common chant at the rallies, often accompanied by “Death to America,” and burning the flags of Iran’s chief adversaries. Iranian politicians abidingly attend Quds Day rallies and deliver anti-Israel diatribes to showcase their steadfast commitment to the regime’s opposition to Israel.

Iran’s public celebrations of Khomeini’s death and Quds Day offer an Iranian regime in search of unity an opportunity to rally its citizens behind the legacy of Khomeini and the Islamic Revolution. There are telling signs, however, that Iranians’ dissatisfaction with their leadership cannot be coopted by performative rites of patriotism. Among the popular chants at recent demonstrations have been, “The Government Supports Gazans, But Betrays Kazerun,” and “No to Gaza, No to Lebanon, my life is only for Iran.” Such protests indicate that Iranians are fed up with their government’s efforts to claim the leadership mantle as the Islamic world’s preeminent defender of the Palestinians when their own welfare is being neglected.  

Khomeini’s ideology and the repressive system of governance it created are at the root of Iran’s malaise. Doubling down on “resistance” paradigms and the revolutionary system will only enhance Iran’s isolation and compound the economic misery of its citizens, triggering further unrest.

Jordan Steckler is a research analyst at United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI).