According to the state-run news agency Fars, Javad Larijani, who was speaking to a number of officials of the so-called Islamic Engineering Association (affiliated with the Khamenei’s), said, “The sedition of the past year was not comparable to the war in terms of the size of forces, but it was nonetheless much bigger than a war. Some officials did not take its threat seriously, but the Supreme Leader was able to stand against it and defeat it.”
Larijani also referred to the defections and fears among top regime officials, adding, “Last year’s sedition was so vast and dangerous that if it was not for the guidance and awareness of the Supreme Leader many would have fallen prey to it.”
He referred to one instance of defections and low morale among senior authorities, saying, “I went to visit one of my friends and I told him that it would be really good if you could talk and defend what is right [against the protests] … But he refused and replied by asking, ‘Don’t you read what’s on the internet?’ I was saddened to see this colleague losing his independence to the internet.”
Larijani also said that the clerical regime will be preserved through loyalty to the mullahs’ Supreme Leader, saying, “This means that if the Supreme Leader tells us to shout out something we all have to do it and if he says to be quiet we all have to stay silent.”
He pointed to the divisions and infighting among the members of factions tied to Khamenei, warning, “Today, nothing would make the enemy happier than bickering among Fundamentalists [parliamentary faction].”