NCRI – In the midst of an escalating power struggle between the regime’s rival bands and while the regime is mired in various crises and corruption, both rival bands are frequently taking advantage of the ‘pretended-opposition trick’ by which they speak and take positions in such a way as if they are speaking from outside the regime, and as if they have not been responsible for any of regime’s wrongdoings.
The first question that comes to mind is that why both regime’s rival factions have resorted to this pretended-opposition trick?
First of all, it should be noted that we are moving closer to regime’s election show which is regarded as a cornerstone for both of regime’s factions.
The more they move away from the system and pretend that they’re against the status quo, the more their chances of success, as we saw this trick during regime’s parliamentary elections show. But the fight is now over regime’s presidential seat, a competition at its highest level between those who for years have played the major role in all regime’s crimes and plundering, and the right time for regime’s rival bands to resort to such tricks.
Another reason for this pretended-opposition trick is that the situation has deteriorated beyond being hidden or denied in any way, so by using this trick, they actually try to put the blame on the rival band.
The faction close to Khamenei says that Rouhani as President has had full authority for four years, and now instead of being accountable for the current situation, he has all of a sudden turned into an intellectual critic. By raising such issues as astronomical salaries, failure of nuclear deal and extension of the sanctions, Khamenei’s band point to Rouhani and Rafsanjani’s as responsible for the current problems.
Rafsanjani’s faction, on the other hand, accuses Khamenei without directly naming him, pointing to Khamenei-supported Ahmadinejad’s administration as responsible for sanctions, recession and unemployment. They claim that the sanction-beneficiaries prevent the government from doing anything which is against their interests or, indirectly pointing to the Revolutionary Guards, they say that anti-development forces and those who want to set up walls around the country are interfering in government’s decisions.
Now the question is, do such tricks really work on Iranian people and community?
The answer is that people won’t be deceived by such tricks, but regime’s rival bands are actually exposing and eradicating the entire system by resorting to such measures, do they really not know it?
Of course they do, and they’re constantly warning each other over that, too, saying that” if the roof collapses, it will collapse on all of us.”
Rafsanjani says that “if the ship gets punctured, all of us will be drowned.”
Rouhani’s vice president Jahangiri once said that “if people become disappointed, they might do anything.”
But since it’s a matter of keeping the regime in power, the rival bands need to compromise somehow, which they try to do, but the real pressures caused by crises don’t allow them to do so.
The issue of grave-sleepers and its social reflection is a good example in this regard. With a populist gesture, both regime’s rival bands tried to cover the issue, so that according to state newspaper Etemad, “grave-sleeping turned political”, with each band trying to use it against the other one. But the fact is that playing with such issues is like playing in a field full of mines and bombs, with mines and bombs acting against the entire system, as the two rival bands make no difference to people. As we saw in the social repercussions of the grave-sleepers, people expressed their resentment toward the entire regime. Thus, in their power struggle, the two rival bands are more than ever exposing the regime and providing arrangements by their own hands for people’s uprising.
