“The middle class and the young people have specifically lost their trust,” he added.
“What is needed in the first place is that this feeling of resentment from the government towards important parts of the society and vice versa must be removed, which is proved by the choking security atmosphere dominant over the country.”
“The trust between the people and the government has been lost… especially the middle class and the young people, all have lost their hope and trust,” Khatami said.
Khatami believes that he would be blocked from standing again in this June’s election despite his loyalty to the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Khatami – president from 1997 to 2005 – told a meeting of Revolutionary Guards veterans on April 20: “All the indications are that they will not allow me to be a candidate for the presidency.”
He stressed his obedience to Khamenei, adding :”The Constitution has a principle called velayat-e-faqih (absolute rule of the Supreme leader] to which we are loyal.
“Functioning within framework of the regime and the supreme leader is one of my working principles.”
Khatami was widely presented as a moderate president by allies of the Iranian regime, but opponents describe him as a ‘fake moderate’ who ordered the suppression of student uprising in 1999.