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Critics say the chances of admission to good universities are very low for those who study in public schools, where the quality of education is inferior. Therefore, the children of privileged families who study in private and expensive semi-public schools for “gifted children” make up most of the top 3,000 in the standardized university entrance examinations (Concours).

According to a 2023 study conducted by the Poverty and Inequality Think-Tank , over half of all twelfth-grade students studied in public schools but less than ten percent of these were among the top 3,000 in the Concours.

Pezeshkian, who says “educational justice” is one of the top issues on his reform agenda for the country, addressed the problem in a speech last week at the inauguration ceremony of the new education minister and again in his first televised interview later in the week.

“It is not acceptable for the child of someone who doesn’t have money and connections to study in a school where he may not get a good education … All schools must meet a satisfactory standard. It is unacceptable that all who get to go to university come from families whose children can study in special and private schools,” he said at the ceremony.

In his televised interview he spoke about how his own family could not afford paid education when he and his late wife, both residents at the time, moved to Tehran from Tabriz to study for their sub-specialisation in surgery in the early 1990s. “They wanted money wherever we went [to enroll them],” he said, adding that this made him think deeply about educational disparity.

The performance of students from underprivileged families has hugely dropped in recent years. Speaking to Ham-Mihan newspaper, Pirouz Nami, a teacher from Khuzestan Province, argued that the educational failures result from the country's general economic circumstances.

“Students must help their families with expenses. They work as apprentices and peddlers. Many of them fall asleep in classes. They say they work in cafes and shops until four in the morning. They drop out of school when they fail. We are facing an increase in school dropouts,” he said.

According to a former education minister, Yousef Nouri, over eight million Iranians, nearly 10 percent of all Iranians, are illiterate.

There are several different categories of schools in Iran including public, ordinary semi-public (Heyat Omanayi), semi-public for ‘gifted students’ (SAMPAD), private (khosusi), and special public schools for children of ‘martyrs and veterans’ (Shahed).

Besides good educational opportunities, students who study in Shahed schools also benefit from preferential admission to universities which paves their way to higher positions in the government.

Huge sums from the education budget is spent to promote the Islamic ideology in all schools but ideological training is the most intensive in Shahed schools.

The minister of education in Pezeshkian’s cabinet, Alireza Kazemi, who is one of the ministers most objected to by Pezeshkian’s supporters, said in a speech Sunday that he considered the promotion of religious values including Quranic lessons and holding prayers at the top of the list of his priorities.

Admission fees to all schools other than public schools can be very costly or even unaffordable for ordinary families. Privileged students' families also often spend a fortune on entrance exams preparatory classes and private tutoring to get their children into SAMPAD and some semi-public schools which ordinary families cannot afford as well as preparation for the Concour.

One of the reasons that the government is reluctant to give up the schools for the ‘gifted’ is the propaganda opportunities that these schools provide. Students from these schools have earned over 750 medals for the country since 1987 when Iran took part in international Olympiads for the first time.

General Yahya Rahim Safavi was echoing sentiment expressed by all forces in Iran who are considered “Principlist” or loyal to Khamenei, who for years has espoused a policy of siding with China and Russia against the United States.

China appeared to be the power that brokered a deal between Tehran and Riyadh to restore diplomatic relations after seven years of open animosity and rivalry. One Iranian commentator said Sunday that the agreement signed in Beijing was not really a bilateral deal, but a tripartite agreement between Iran, China and Saudi Arabia.

In fact, Tehran and Riyadh had been negotiating since 2021 in Baghdad, with Iraqi mediation and could have restored relations without Beijing’s mediation. Former Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafal al-Kadhimi in an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat published Sunday, says that most of the talks took place in Baghdad.

At this point we do not know what brought China into the picture, except assuming that either Iran or Saudi Arabia insisted on it. If the demand came from the Saudis, it could mean one thing, showing displeasure with the Biden administration, which is left picking up the pieces.

Khamenei’s advisor Safavi in his remarks did not repeat the typical rhetoric of war and confrontation, advising that Iran and Saudi Arabia should exhibit rationality for the sake of West Asia. He said that restoration of bilateral ties was not against any regional countries. But he quickly added that it is natural for the United States to be worried and try to disrupt it.

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Speculations abound in Iranian media about the potential dividends of peace with Saudi Arabia. Some see it as an Iranian victory to potentially disrupt a possible Saudi peace deal with Israel. Others speak of economic benefits for the Islamic Republic, going as far as claiming that Iran, Saudi Arabia and Russia can create a powerful oil cartel with Chinese backing and put the West on the defensive.

Safavi in his remarks also mentioned a similar outlook. “Iran should regard the West’s entanglement in Ukraine and the Taiwan tensions as an opportunity and based on shared interests with Russia and China move ahead with a clear strategy, given US threats against all three countries.”

The quick face-about of Iran hardliners and Khamenei loyalists regarding Saudi Arabia is being highlighted by their rivals, the reformists, who point out that there was no need to attack the Saudi embassy in Tehran in January 2016 and create tensions for seven years.

They argue that hardliners were calling for the destruction of the Saudi monarchy and equating the country with “Zionists”, calling it a US puppet. Meanwhile, Tehran spent tens of billions of dollars to finance the war in Yemen against Riyadh and provoked the ire of Persian Gulf Arab states.

Now, facing more international isolation and a broken economy, the Khamenei camp is suddenly praising friendship with Riyadh, something they could have done all along.

Safavi insisted that the agreement with Saudi Arabia was “a political earthquake” and the end of “American hegemony in the region”. We this deal, the “post-American era starts in the Persian Gulf region.”

He went on to say that “The Chinese are determined to become the top global economy by 2030 and this agreement brokered by the Chinese is the second big blow by China against America.”

Although he did not elaborate on his argument that Iran’s foreign policy is an outcome of its internal politics, it was obvious that as a member of the former centrist government he was targeting hardliners, who have obstructed talks with the West.

Speaking at a conference on "the protests and media," which was sponsored by the Iranian Society of Cultural and Communication Studies this week, Rabiei reiterated the position of more moderate regime insiders, blaming diaspora Iranians for “misrepresenting” the message of protests in Iran while also attacking hardliners for refusing to pave the way for public discussion that can lead to a new form of policymaking in Iran.

"Physically, all movements might recede one day, but the people's mentality will not change,” Rabiei said.

Hadi Khaniki, the Society's chairman, said that "protesting is part of the nature of the Iranian society, but protests can have different forms. Institutions like ours should go to the lower depths of social issues and offer solutions when politicians seem to have deviated from the right course or have taken hasty measures. Critical views can get the Iranian society a step forward. "

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Khaniki said that everyone agrees the protest movement in Iran has been widespread and that no other issue in Iran has attracted so much attention. He added that the protest movement has further politicized the Iranian society and even those who were reluctant to get involved in political discussions have become politically active. The media cannot remain indifferent to such a change, he said.

Khaniki argued that because of the weakness of civil institutions, the Iranian society's behavior often remains unknown or unpredictable. An issue such as the gas attacks on girls' schools grabs people's attention and gives rise to many concerns. Everybody sympathizes with the students and their parents, but it is not clear where the media should stand in a such a situation.

In fact, some media have reacted responsibly to the issue. Centrist daily Ham Mihan wrote in a commentary March 7, that despite the widespread attacks, "No particular medical treatment has been given to affected schoolchildren other than administering tranquilizers. There has been no chemical research about the nature of the gas used to poison the students. And all of that are signs of a deep-rooted mismanagement."

Ham Mihan observed that the absence of the right methodology to detect the truth, is indicative of inefficiency, lack of people's trust in the government, and lack of independent media that would reflect the truth.

Meanwhile, sociologist Taghi Azad Armaki said at the conference: "The essential problems of the Iranian society is one of lifestyle. Iranians wish to remain Iranian while as Mr. Rabiei said, there is a group in Iran that does not want Iranians to remain Iranian."

He said Iranians simply want to live, but the government and its pressure groups will do everything to prevent that. While the people think in terms of a cultural understanding of Iran, the government only recognizes its own political understanding of life in this country.

He said: Iranians are a nation that is constantly changing, but this change is non-violent. In the same way, Iranians have even changed Islam thanks to their adaptability and innovation. We are a nation that attaches importance to culture. We are a nation that wishes to bring about reforms. But those who have the wrong understanding of culture do not allow us to live.

As an example, Armaki pointed out the Iranian government's enmity with the middle class. "What has the middle class done that the government treats it as an enemy? The problem is a war between two cultures: The culture of life and the culture of totalitarianism."

Diplomatic relations between Tehran and Riyadh had been severed since January 2016 when pro-government vigilante groups attacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran and the consulate in Mashhad. Since then, many moderate state officials and media commentators were accusing the hardliners who are currently in control of the government of being behind the attacks.

Welcoming the idea of resumption of ties between the two neighbors, reformist politician Mohammad-Reza Javadi-Hesar told Etemad newspaper in Tehran on Saturday, that Iran has no way out of its current crises other than détente. He added that "Iran should welcome direct talks with the United States and Saudi Arabia."

Borrowing the expression West Asia (rather than Middle East) from Supreme Leader Khamenei, Javadi-Hesar said: "We in West Asia are holding talks withEast Asia. What is wrong with also holding talks with the power West of Europe" meaning the United States.

Sitting at the negotiating table with the United States and Saudi Arabia will prove that problems are not as big as we assumed them to be, he said. If the current Iranian government which has not been able to solve the country's economic problems does this, they can at least take credit for melting the ice of a 40-year-long impasse in Iran's foreign relations, Javadi-Hesar added.

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Meanwhile, former diplomat Ghasem Mohebali, criticized Iran's Looking East policy and said in an interview with Entekhab website that "Our economic problem is the result of our relations with Europe and the United States, not our relations with China and Saudi Arabia!" Mohebali, who was referring to Western sanctions, further stressed that Tehran should strive to solve its problems with Washington. He added: "Iran cannot have permanent normal ties with any country without solving its problems with the United States."

Nonetheless, Mohebali said that "the recent agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia gives us reasons to be optimistic about other positive developments as a result of returning to diplomacy.”

In another development, Iran's former Foreign Minister and Nuclear Chief Ali Akbar Salehi also welcomed the agreement between Riyadh and Tehran, and said in an interview with Entekhab: "The agreement with Saudi Arabia was a relatively timely event that can take us out of a deadlock." However, he noted that "this could have taken place earlier and without the intervention of mediators. In that case we would have owed nothing to no one." Salehi further hoped that both sides will remain committed to the agreement.

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The agreement over the idea of resuming ties between Riyadh and Tehran has also led to other discussions on social media. Gholamreza Nouriala the editor of proreform Naghd-e Hal newspaper, harshly criticized the hardline editor of Kayhan newspaper who had called relations with Saudi Arabia "a stigma for the Islamic Iran" in 2016 after the attack on the Saudi embassy. However, in its Saturday edition, Kayhan's editor praised the resumption of ties as a “hard blow to the United States and Israel.” Nouriala called Shariatmadari a hypocrite and readers who commented on his tweet, angrily lashed out at Shariamadari.

Several other social media users posted pictures of Ali Foroughi who led the vigilante groups during the attack on Saudi diplomatic buildings in 2016 and was subsequently appointed as the manager of Channel 3 of Iran's state television which operates under Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. One user wrote that he got a big job for leading the arsonists and will once again get a bigger job for reflecting president Raisi's "big diplomatic victor."

Tens of other Twitter users also reminded that Majles Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf was also implicated for his role in the attack after one of the attack organizers, Hassan Kordmihan was revealed to be the chairman of his presidential election headquarters in 2017. On Friday, Ghalibaf praised the resumption of ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran as an important step to enhance the region's security.

According to Iranian media, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and his "neo-con" allies face a preponderance of hardliners who want to win power.

Ghalibaf won the speakership of the Majles (parliament) in 2020, despite the fact that his allies constituted a minority among the ultraconservative groups that control the parliament. His winning cards were his close ties to the IRGC and his kinship with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Nonetheless, those he calls "radicals" and teases as "revolutionaries" could have prevented his ascension to the Speaker's chair. They let him go forward only after he gave them concessions such as posts in and out of the parliament using his influence.

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For the next year's elections, however, some young ultraconservatives such as populist Roads and Housing Minister Mehrdad Bazrpash and radical cleric Hamid Rasaei seem to have started early campaigning that marginalizes "old” conservatives such as Ghalibaf.

According to Rouydad24 news website in Tehran, young ultraconservatives have formed the Strategic Council of the Supporters of the Islamic Revolution (Persian acronym Sharian) led by Bazrpash. A group of conservatives also formed an alliance called the "Society To Revive the Popular Institutions of the Islamic Revolution" led by Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani. The latter's opening session was attended by heavyweight hardliners such as Gholamali Haddad Adel, a former Majles speaker whose daughter is married to Khamenei's son Mojtaba.

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This group operates under the umbrella alliance called the council of Coalition of Revolutionary Forces (Persian acronym Shana).

Although both groups do not shy away from claiming that they want to monopolize political power, Sharian is better positioned as it rallied some 500 aspiring younger politicians in its general assembly, a far larger number than Shana.

Members of the older group say they are looking for unity among conservatives, an idea that failed to materialize during the past 30 years.

Young ultraconservatives, on the other hand, come from the same party that disrupted any attempt to unite conservatives during several parliamentary and presidential elections in Iran. Their party, Paydari, once close to former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, believes in networking at the bottom and bargaining for power at the top and that is what they have been successfully doing since 2005 when their name was Abadgaran Javan (Young developers).

Meanwhile, a report in Khabar Online featured photos and a long list of the leading members of the Sharian group mainly to show that they are much younger. The website tagged the next parliamentary election in Iran as a competition between young and old conservatives.

So far, the only reaction by Ghalibaf's neo-cons has been highlighting Bazrpash and Rasaei's bad records as well as the unpleasant track record of mayor Zakani in reports in the pro-Ghalibaf daily Sobh-e No and Farda News website which is also close to Ghalibaf. The daily characterized Rasaii as a critic of former IRGC Qods Force Commander Qasem Soleimani hoping it would alienate conservatives.

Khabar Online quoted some unnamed moderate conservatives as saying that one year ahead of the elections Ghalibaf cannot think of anything better than the position he already has

Meanwhile, according to centrist daily Ham-Mihan, Paydari and Sharian aim to knock Ghalibaf out of the Majles in the same way they ousted Haddad Adel a decade ago. Their message to Ghalibaf is that Raisi will definitely serve a second term as Iran's President and there is no chance for Ghalibaf to become Iran's next president. Their second message is that Ghalibaf himself may not be able to become the speaker again. His choices are limited and his days on the Speaker's seat are numbered.