With the United States and Iran continuing their standoff over the Strait of Hormuz, there are new reports of disagreements within the upper reaches of the Iranian regime, and questions about who is really in charge in Tehran.
According to Bloomberg News, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said on TV this week that he found it “very difficult” to reach the country’s Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei. The president later said the two had recently met for several hours and called it “a very good meeting.” Reuters later confirmed that the two met.
Iran’s missile capabilities. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
Khamenei succeeded his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, after he was killed in an airstrike in February, at the start of the U.S. and Israel’s war in Iran.
Mojtaba Khamenei was named the new Supreme Leader the following month, although he was said to have been wounded in the same strike that killed his father and has not appeared in public since his appointment.
Bloomberg, however, reported on “weeks of bitter public infighting in Tehran” over the war and the country’s strategy. Some hardliners have called on Pezeshkian to resign after agreeing to the “beleaguered peace deal with the US,” although the president has resisted such calls.
Pezeshkian, in a Trumpian flourish, reportedly declared that the Supreme Leader was in “perfect health” at the time of their meeting, seemingly denying rumors that Khamenei was badly injured in the February strike.
No More Referees
The Bloomberg story paints a picture in which the elder Khamenei, who served as Iran’s Supreme Leader for nearly 40 years, “often played the role of referee in internal squabbles” and could overrule dissenters. The analysis notes that “It’s not clear that his son has that same authority yet.”
Arman Mahmoudian, an Iran expert at the University of South Florida, told Bloomberg News that the new Supreme Leader “does not make public appearances, is not easily accessible, and reportedly communicates with senior officials through intermediaries.”
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Mahmoudian added that while infighting within the Iranian regime is nothing new, what’s different now is that the disagreements have become more public and more intense.
The analysis characterizes the main factions in Iranian politics as “pragmatists,” such as President Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, and “hardliners,” including clerics and politicians who seek an even more adversarial relationship with the United States.
The pragmatist faction, at least according to this analysis, favors striking a deal with the U.S. to secure sanctions relief and improve Iran’s economy.
The hardliners are much more skeptical of such an approach.
One leading hardliner, conservative cleric Mohammad Bagher Kharazi, described Pezeshkian as “trash” in public comments last month.
Another hardliner, former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, said at the late Khamenei’s funeral that Iranian leaders should make it a top priority to avenge the late Supreme Leader’s death.
And Hassan Rouhani, the former president from the time of the JCPOA nuclear deal over a decade ago, is said to be eying a return to politics. In a criticism of the hardline faction, Bloomberg reported, he recently criticized “a minority who believe that escalating this war will hasten the coming of the Mahdi.”
Dina Esfandiary, Middle East Geoeconomics Lead at Bloomberg Economics, told Bloomberg that there are signs the hardliners are ascendant, especially as Iran has shown it can exert leverage over the Strait of Hormuz.
“They feel they are ahead and they have come to understand that the language of bullying works with Trump, so it’s all part of them coalescing around this idea and consolidating themselves further,” Esfandiary told the outlet.
A Push For Unity
The Bloomberg story also notes that in the early days of his leadership, the younger Khamenei has “repeatedly pushed for unity,” both among Iran’s people and among the different political factions.
A major fault line is over the war with the U.S. and how it should be resolved.
“There’s always been one group that says we need a strategic agreement with the US and there is a group that wants an endless war with the US,” Saeed Laylaz, an economist and former adviser to Pezeshkian, told Bloomberg.
“The leadership has changed and isn’t publicly seen. This has opened the space for some people to step forward and speak.”
About the Author: Stephen Silver
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist, and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review, and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, national security, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
