NCRI – The announcement that presidential debates will not be aired live on TV has become a major embarrassment for the Iranian regime.
The faction loyal to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has protested why the debates will not be aired live, attempting to blame the faction loyal to President Hassan Rouhani.
Rouhani’s advisor said in response, “Presidential elections are held and aired differently in other countries. In the Islamic Republic of Iran from 1997 onward these debates have been aired on TV. In 2005 the experts related to each candidate debated on TV and in 2009 one on one debates were seen in Iran. In 2013 a group debate was aired live on TV. There are those who believe that more supervision is needed and it was decided to air these debates as recordings.”
Sadegh Larijani, Iran’s judiciary chief who is close to Khamenei, warned of “another sedition.”
“The enemy may seek to inflict another blow to the establishment. Therefore, we should all be ready. We should not allow for such measures,” he said.
It is obvious that the main issue at hand is increasing rifts amongst the regime’s senior ranks and the entire farce elections becoming a disaster for the regime. It is also obvious that senior Iranian regime officials cancelled the live debate, knowing the risks will be too high.
Despite notorious candidates such as Ebrahim Raisi, the murderer of over 30,000 political prisoners during the 1988 massacre in Iran’s prisons, such debates can quickly lead to this issue being raised and gaining vast attention.
This may even challenge the fatwa issued by Iranian regime founder Ruhollah Khomeini ordering this massacre. If the 1988 massacre is raised in these debates, rest assured the name of the Iranian opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) will also be mentioned, meaning crossing a red line for the Iranian regime.
“If an individual seeks to highlight the issues of 1988, it will most certainly lead to his disqualification and cause problems for this individual. This issue is a red line for the establishment. If anyone dares to talk about this issue or raise protests, then their dossiers will be disclosed and they will no longer be able to live in this country; that is why such issues should not be discussed,” the state-run ‘Nome News’ website wrote.
