We must have the people on our side, Pezeshkian tells Iran's intelligence chiefs

“Our approach to the embassy matter is fundamentally diplomatic. Both sides are prepared, and we are actively engaged in consultations to facilitate the reopening of embassies in both countries,” government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said during a Tuesday press conference.

Speculation had followed a statement by the foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei last week, raising questions around the reopening.

“I prefer not to use the word ‘imminent,’” Baghaei said. “This is on the agenda, and as soon as the necessary conditions are met—both in terms of security and politics—we will move forward with reopening the embassy.”

The delay came on the back of the killing of a local employee of Iran's embassy, Davood Bitaraf, killed in a shooting. Baghaei blamed "terrorists" for the attack and urged the Syrian transitional government to bring the perpetrators to justice.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is seriously pursuing the matter through appropriate channels and various diplomatic and international avenues,” he added.

Video footage from earlier this month, on the day President Bashar al-Assad fled to Moscow, showed militants storming the Iranian embassy, ransacking documents, and vandalizing the premises.

Shattered glass and broken furniture was scattered throughout the building. Iranian media reported that the staff had evacuated before the takeover.

Syria’s new de facto leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, said in an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat that Iran’s influence in the region has been significantly weakened. Sharaa’s group, Hayat al-Tahrir Sham (HTS), recently defeated Assad’s forces in a rapid takeover, marking a turning point in Syria’s relationship with Iran, which had supported Assad since 2011 in the face of civil war.

“The Iranian project in the region has been set back by 40 years,” Sharaa said, threatening a key military and economic hub for Iran which had bases and forces spread across Syria.

On Monday, the head of Iran’s judiciary instructed the Attorney General and provincial prosecutors to coordinate with intelligence, security, and law enforcement agencies to prevent unrest, sensing widespread public dissatisfaction over power and gas outages.

Speaking during a meeting of the Supreme Judicial Council, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei stated, “The Attorney General and prosecutors across the country, in direct cooperation with the intelligence, security, and law enforcement agencies, should take all appropriate measures and arrangements to stabilize and strengthen the security of the people and citizens, and, as in the past, and even with greater firmness, take the relevant measures so that the enemy's conspiracy to create insecurity…is neutralized."

Ejei, widely recognized as one of Iran’s most prominent human rights violators, warned President Masoud Pezeshkian's administration that the recent wave of nationwide shutdowns caused by air pollution and the government’s failure to meet energy demands could spell unrest. People are struggling to heat their homes in the bitter cold while the cost of living is soaring amid the worst economic recession in the Islamic Republic's history.

The government is bracing itself for action reminiscent of the 2019 and 2022 protests in which hundreds of Iranians were killed by security forces and tens of thousands were arrested.

Facing a 30% shortfall in natural gas supplies from its Persian Gulf fields, the Iranian government has turned to burning the highly polluting heavy oil mazut, shrouding Tehran and other cities in dense smog.

Years of under-investment in the energy sector, exasperated by technology sanctions by the West, has pushed Iran into a downward spiral in natural gas production.

Gas pressure is falling in its main production field in the Persian Gulf that it shares with Qatar. Only the largest Western oil companies have the technological capability to remedy the situation.

The Pezeshkian government has limited options to address the crisis, apart from a complete overhaul of the country’s foreign policy and opening its economy to global engagement.

The latest wave of economic and public sector shutdowns, which began on December 9, has led to widespread closures of schools, universities, and government offices across many provinces.

The electricity and fuel crisis, combined with a sharp decline in the national currency’s value since September, has fueled an increasingly volatile public mood.

Iranians are facing daily price hikes while also witnessing a series of regional setbacks for the government. The most unexpected blow was the rapid overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad, which forced Iranian forces to retreat from Syria, reportedly with Russian assistance.

Recent statements saying that the government is in touch with Syria's new ruling parties reflects possible concern about the perception of its diminishing authority and credibility among the population, both following the debacle in Syria and the deteriorating economic conditions at home.

On Sunday, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei delivered a speech warning that those within Iran who align themselves with foreign powers, particularly the United States, would face severe consequences.

During the 2022 protests, triggered by the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, arrested for not wearing her hijab properly, Khamenei blamed the US and foreign powers of having stoked the fires of protests.

"The fools smell the scent of kebab," Khamenei said on Sunday, using a metaphor to describe what he sees as misguided ambitions from those seeking to overthrow the Islamic Republic. "Anyone inside the country who chooses to serve the Americans, the Iranian people will trample them underfoot."

Khamenei has become a huge patron of the country's eulogists, inviting them to perform at ceremonies he holds at his residence for religious occasions such as commemoration ceremonies to mark the deaths of Shia saints. His predecessor, Ruhollah Khomeini who founded the Islamic Republic only used the services of clerics at such events.

Khamenei received a large group of eulogists who performed at his residence on Sunday. In his speech to the group, he spoke of the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and denied that Iran has proxy forces in the region, and said the eulogists were artists who “make jihad with words”.

"Eulogy is a real media tool ... for elucidation [of the truth],” he said.

Q. Are ‘eulogists’ clergymen?

Most ‘eulogists of the Prophet’s household’ (maddah-e ahl-e beyt) are laymen with no seminary training or place in the clerical hierarchy.

Q. What role do eulogists play in religious ceremonies?

Eulogists recite and sing verses in praise of the Prophet Muhammed and his household, particularly at ceremonies such as Ashura to mourn Shia Imams on the anniversary of their death. Professional eulogists have found a much more prominent role than clerics in these ceremonies in the past three decades.

Q. How many eulogists are there in Iran now?

Over 100,000 professional and amateur eulogists perform in Ashura and other religious ceremonies across Iran. However, there are no official figures on the number of professional eulogists who are members of large and small professional associations such as Khaneh-ye Maddahan (Eulogists' House).

Q. How do eulogists earn their living?

Professional eulogists earn their living mainly by performing at ceremonies for fixed fees alongside businesses they may run. Many others who may be considered amateurs have ordinary jobs or businesses and perform for free or a small ‘gift’ from the organizers of such events.

Some eulogists such as Mansour Arzi and Mahmoud Karimi, two of Khamenei’s favorites, have gained celebrity status in the past three decades. Iranian media have on many occasions alleged that ‘celebrity eulogists’ only attend ceremonies in return for very hefty fees.

In a recent online interview, Hamidreza Alimi, a eulogist who says earns his living by selling household appliances, claimed that some of his peers demand as much as two billion rials for a few hours of performance. He also alleged that these eulogists ask for cash payments to avoid paying taxes on their incomes.

Q. What benefits do eulogists receive from the government?

In 2015, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei ordered the establishment of a foundation to provide government welfare services including health insurance to professional eulogists.

The foundation, named after Dibil bin Ali al-Khuzai, a seventh-century Shia poet, does not have a separate budget. However, it receives huge donations from various government and state bodies such as the Islamic Propaganda Organization and municipalities for “cultural activities”.

Professional eulogists also enjoy numerous perks from government and state bodies including priority in the allocation of housing and loans.

Q. What is the relationship between eulogists and political groups?

Most ‘celebrity eulogists’ have strong ties with ultra-hardline political parties and groups and often use religious ceremonies to campaign for them during parliamentary and presidential elections.

In their speeches and performances, these eulogists freely attack political rivals. Some are known for slandering top officials of the rival camp with immunity.

Mansour Arzi, a veteran eulogist known for his notorious attacks on several presidents including Mohammad Khatami, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad when he fell from Khamenei’s favor, and Hassan Rouhani, published his own list of candidates in the parliamentary elections of February 2024.

Arzi officially supported Saeed Jalili in the snap presidential elections of July and on several occasions publicly attacked Masoud Pezeshkian for criticizing the harsh enforcement of hijab.

Eulogists are also often invited as pre-sermon speakers at state-sponsored Friday prayer gatherings.

Q. Are all eulogists aligned with the ruling political establishment?

Some eulogists only perform at the behest of religious groups organized by ordinary citizens and refuse to get involved in politics. Some others support reformists or dissident clerics such as the Qom-based Ayatollah Sayyid Sadiq Shirazi who is highly critical of Khamenei's religious views and rule.

Since the disputed elections of 2009 that brought Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power, some eulogists have used the story of the martyrdom of the Prophet’s grandson, Imam Hussain, to express their opposition to an interpretation of Islam that the Islamic Republic has been promoting for four decades during the Ashura ceremonies held in Imam Hussain’s memory.

In July 2023, during an Ashura ceremony in Dezful, the eulogists leading the ceremony fearlessly sang lyrics that openly criticized the political establishment and its insistence on enforcement of hijab, an issue which has seen the country thrown into revolutionary fervor since 2022's Women, Life, Freedom uprising.

On Monday, the committee’s spokesman cited a law that bans individuals with dual citizenship or close relatives with dual citizenship from holding sensitive positions as the basis for the action.

Zarif's children automatically received US citizenship after being born in New York while he served a large part of his career with the Iranian delegation at the United Nations.

Although his children now reside in Iran, the Law on the Appointment of Individuals to Sensitive Positions, enacted in October 2022, bans Zarif from holding his position as vice president for strategic affairs.

The law was not passed when he was chosen as foreign minister under former President Hassan Rouhani from 2013-2021.

Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said that while Iran has actively engaged with opposition groups, it does not maintain direct ties with Syria’s ruling faction, responsible for the overthrow of the decades-long Assad dynasty.

“Our involvement has always been about preventing ISIS's advance and the spread of terrorism to regional countries,” Baghaei said during a press briefing in Tehran on Monday.

He added that Iran’s focus included advancing Syria’s political processes and preventing the country from becoming a haven for extremist groups.

“The issue of various terrorist groups operating in Syria has been a major concern since the beginning of developments in Syria 13 years ago,” he said.

Iran has long had a military presence in Syria, as has its armed allies such as Lebanese Hezbollah, designated as a terrorist group by nations such as the UK and US.

Responding to speculation about a message from Syria’s leadership via Turkey, Baghaei said that regional concerns, including Syria, are often addressed during multilateral discussions.

“Our stance is to preserve Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity while ensuring that the Syrian people determine their fate without foreign interference,” he added.

After the storming of the embassy

Baghaei described a coordinated effort involving Iran’s embassies in Damascus and Beirut to evacuate nationals.

“At present, no non-resident Iranian nationals remain in Syria,” he said, adding that Iranians, including military advisors and diplomatic staff, were successfully evacuated during the recent unrest which saw the Iranian embassy ransacked.

Prospects for nuclear negotiations

Turning to nuclear negotiations, Baghaei said Iran is committed to dialogue. “The Islamic Republic of Iran has never shut the door on negotiations. We have always participated in good faith, despite many concerns being unfounded,” he said.

Referencing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Baghaei said that Iran’s cooperation had yielded agreements in the past but criticized the lack of follow-through by other parties.

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal, was signed in 2015 between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries (the United States, United Kingdom, France, Russia, China, and Germany).

The agreement aimed to ensure the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program by imposing strict limits on its uranium enrichment activities and granting extensive access to international inspectors in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.

Despite its initial success in curbing Iran's nuclear advancements, the deal faced challenges, particularly after the United States unilaterally withdrew in 2018 under the Trump administration and re-imposed sanctions on Iran.

This withdrawal led to a gradual erosion of the agreement, with Iran scaling back its commitments in response and since, escalating its nuclear program beyond international limits.

Efforts to revive the JCPOA have been ongoing, reflecting its significance in promoting regional stability and preventing nuclear proliferation. However, negotiations remain complex, with both sides expressing concerns over compliance and mutual trust.

Baghaei denied reports of a message being sent from US President-elect Donald Trump.

Iran-Turkey relations and broader goals

Baghaei also highlighted the importance of maintaining strong ties with Turkey, describing it as a significant regional neighbor.

“We are committed to good-neighborly relations with Turkey, which benefit both nations,” he said. While acknowledging occasional differences, Baghaei expressed confidence in ongoing dialogue to resolve disputes.

Recent tensions between Iran and Turkey over Syria have highlighted the complexities of their regional relationship. While both nations have historically cooperated on various issues, their conflicting interests in Syria have created friction as each vies for power.

Iran, a staunch supporter of Syria's government under Bashar al-Assad, has expressed concerns over Turkey's help to the ruling group in Syria which ousted Assad after 13 years.

Turkey, on the other hand, justifies its actions as necessary to combat Kurdish militias, which it considers terrorists.

“The region’s security depends on collective adherence to international obligations and the rejection of foreign interference,” Baghaei added, Syria having played a critical role in Iran's regional foreign policy since the outbreak of Syria's civil war, with multiple bases spread out across Syria and forces in place.