Iran International
Amid deteriorating ties with Europe and the looming threat of another war with Israel, Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian is under mounting attack from Tehran’s hardliners, who question both his competence and his political judgment.
Leading ultraconservative cleric and MP Hamid Rasai, pushing for a parliamentary probe into the president’s performance, seized on Pezeshkian’s recent comments about the Zangezur corridor and his remark that Iran has no choice but to negotiate with the United States.
“Critics say raising the issue of Pezeshkian’s political inadequacy in the midst of two wars is against expediency!” he wrote on X on August 13.
“The session that led to the disqualification and ousting of Iran’s first president, Abolhassan Banisadr, was also held during the 1980s war with Iraq.”
Rasai, who believes another confrontation with Israel is imminent, argued that while Pezeshkian is “not a traitor like Banisadr,” he is “ignorant of his responsibilities” and equally damaging to the system. “If he doesn’t take the initiative himself,” Rasai added, “let’s not deceive ourselves.”
Some social media users urged Rasai to voice such criticisms in parliament rather than online, while others attacked his own legitimacy, noting he was elected with just 4% of the vote compared with the far higher turnouts of MPs who impeached Banisadr.
Moderates join the fray
Even figures from Iran’s moderate camp are voicing disillusionment.
Ali Mohammad Namazi told conservative outlet Nameh News that Pezeshkian had failed to deliver on his 2024 campaign pledge to lift sanctions, re-engage with the world, and revive the economy.
Namazi said the president’s promise to form an active government from across the political spectrum instead produced “a cabinet of mediocre ministers” with “no outstanding economic or political figures.”
He added that industrial activity had stalled under budget constraints, energy and water shortages, and a lack of investment — leaving households waiting for sanctions relief to meet basic needs.
“Pezeshkian’s most important political promise was to hold talks with the West to lift sanctions and boost oil revenues,” Namazi said. “Not only did that not materialize, but even the negotiations expected to bear fruit within two months were halted following a damning IAEA report and a resolution tabled by Germany, France, and the United Kingdom.”
A systemic crisis
The intensifying criticism — from across Iran’s political spectrum — comes as the country faces the possible snapback of all UN sanctions, a blow that could sever its economic lifeline.
Hardliners like Rasai frame the moment as a prelude to war; moderates like Namazi see a presidency adrift.
For many Iranians online, however, the attacks only underline a deeper reality: the country’s troubles lie in a rigid political system that no president alone can fix.
