Iran International
The immediate reaction on social media to President Masoud Pezeshkian’s belated press conference on Monday was mixed, highlighting the deep divide within Iranian society.
Some netizens have viewed the two-and-a-half-hour press conference as a breath of fresh air in Iranian politics. They found Pezeshkian to be more honest and straightforward compared to his predecessor, Ebrahim Raisi, and Saeed Jalili, who narrowly lost to Pezeshkian in the July elections.
Others have noted that when confronted with challenging questions, such as the future of Iran’s relations with the West, Pezeshkian seemed evasive and spoke in vague terms. He often toned down his more assertive statements to avoid controversy or offending critics.
For example, his lengthy response on whether he was open to meeting with the current or a future US president did not offer a clear rejection or acceptance.
Nevertheless, Pezeshkian did go into the offensive mode in a few instances including when he came under attack by the reporter of the ultra-hardline Kayhan newspaper for employing “seditionists” in his government.
Ahmad, a 52-year-old resident of Ekbatan, a middle-class neighborhood in west Tehran, watched the press conference like many other Iranians. “Overall, I was quite pleased,” he said.
“He doesn’t seem to like stirring up trouble with the rest of the world. This alone is enough for those who voted for him to be content even if that doesn’t make their lives any easier now,” Ahmad told Iran International.
“All they would be hearing today if Jalili had been elected would be ‘the enemy’ and ‘enemies’,” he added.
To those who actively boycotted the elections, and refer to themselves as ‘barandaz’ (proponents of regime change), Pezeshkian’s press conference was only another “regime circus”.
His answers, they argued, only reinforced the view that he is merely a puppet of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. They suggested that his statements were dictated, indicating that no significant change should be expected in Iran's troubled society.
“All Pezeshkian says is that ‘the system should not be messed with”! In other words, one must be a servant and obedient to Khamenei and move forward when he agrees,” expatriate political commentator Ali Afshari who called Pezeshkian a “nobody” tweeted.
“He has come to say that society should forget about transforming the system and resisting tyranny, and be content with uncertain economic promises,” he wrote.
Hardliners and ultra-hardliners were also displeased with several of Pezeshkian’s statements, including his remarks that “We have no enmity with the US,” and “We don’t intend to export our Revolution.” His insistence on resolving issues with the Financial Action Taskforce (FATF) and pursuing peace with all non-hostile nations also provoked criticism.
They were also infuriated when a female journalist openly told Pezeshkian that she had to make several detours on her way to the press conference to avoid detention by the morality police for not adhering to hijab regulations.
“Do they still harass [women]?” Pezeshkian asked her. “They weren’t supposed to do it anymore. We will follow up on this so they won’t harass you anymore,” he said good-humoredly when he received an affirmative response. His remarks drew applause from some of those present.
As he often does, Pezeshkian spoke in a modest tone throughout the press conference, often disregarding standard protocols. He made a few gaffes, such as referring to Russia as the Soviet Union while discussing the Ukraine War, and included several jokes to elicit laughter from the audience.
As usual, he also recited verses from the Quran and sections from the sermons of the first Shia imam, Imam Ali, in Arabic when responding to some questions. This practice has been criticized by some Iranians as being overly performative and not suited to presidential discourse.
The stage for the press conference to which around 300 domestic and international media representatives and photojournalists had been invited was very different from similar events in the past.
The president sat at a desk in front of a large background banner with the image of the iconic, snow-clad Mount Damavand and the sun rising from behind it in its center and the images of the current Supreme Leader and the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini on either side at the top.
“I pledge my life to make my promises come true,” it read on one side of the banner. This is a quotation from Imam Ali whose shrine in Iraq Pezeshkian visited last week. Under it, two slogans were printed in large letters: “Reforming Governance” and “Returning to the People”.
Turki al-Faisal, a former Saudi intelligence chief, said the West must also do more to deter the Iran-backed Houthi terror group in Yemen amidst the Red Sea blockade as the group holds the world "hostage".
Houthis began attacking international shipping in the Red Sea region last fall after Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei called for blockading Israel. They have expanded their reach far beyond Yemen disrupting a key global trade route.
Speaking at Chatham House in London, al-Faisal said on Friday: “The Houthis now hold the world as hostage in the Bab al-Mandab entrance to the Red Sea, and yet Iran is not showing that it can do something there if it wanted to, and the kingdom would have expected Iran to be more forthcoming in showing not just to us but to others that it can be a positive factor in securing stability and removing differences not just with Saudi Arabia but the rest of us.”
Dozens of projectiles have been fired at commercial vessels and dozens of hostages taken amid the blockade initially aimed at forcing an Israeli ceasefire in Gaza.
Iran also continues to destabilize countries including Syria, Lebanon and Iraq, which al-Faisal said had broken the terms of the 2023 agreement.
However, according to the UK's The Guardian, al-Faisal has said that the West's "pinprick bombings" carried out by the UK and US on Houthi infrastructure, is not enough to quash the group, armed, funded and trained by Iran.
In a frank admission, al-Faisal said the kingdom is disappointed in Iran's having broken its promise to limit the influence of its terror groups in the region, agreed upon last year when the two countries resumed diplomatic relations after several years' hiatus.
During the session at Chatham House, he said more must be done by the global community to combat the Red Sea blockade which began in November.
“We have seen the deployment of European and US fleets along the Red Sea coast and more can be done there to interdict the supply of weaponry that comes to the Houthis from Iran,” he said.
“Putting pressure on Iran by the world community can have a positive impact on what the Houthis can do in launching these missiles and drones to hit international commerce.”
On Sunday, a missile penetrated Israel's air defence systems, threatening once again, to inflame tensions amidst the war in Gaza which has seen Iran's proxies in the region surround Israel since the Hamas invasion of the Jewish state on October 7.
A former Royal Navy Commander told Iran International’s podcast Eye for Iran that Iran is winning against the Americans in the Red Sea, through their proxy the Houthis.
Tom Sharpe, who worked alongside the Americans in the Red Sea for two decades, witnessed their might as the most powerful navy in the world but in spite of that, under the tutelage of Iran, the Houthis have not been deterred by the limited US defensive and allied retaliatory actions.
“They're achieving their ends, all of them, and we're achieving none of ours. We're spending millions and millions of dollars on not winning. It's a real problem," he warned.
Critics say the US's risk aversion has meant that just like its kid gloves approach to Iran, the deterrence to its terror groups such as the Houthis is failing.
Rear Adm. Marc Miguez, a US Navy commander from the Dwight D Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group, told Ward Carroll's YouTube episode that more aggressive strikes on the Houthis were necessary.
"There are definite strategies that were put forward, but our National Command Authority decided that those - I would call more aggressive postures and more aggressive strikes - was not something we wanted to challenge," Miguez said last month.
Jason Brodsky, the policy director for United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), agreed that the Biden administration's inability to deter Iran has led to an emboldened stance not only from the Islamic Republic but also, its proxies.
“We have a deterrence deficit with Iran. They have been attacking our forces. They have been attacking commercial vessels, with impunity since October 2023,” he said.
