Iran International
President Massoud Pezeshkian’s call for “unity” and “national reconciliation” has collided with Iran’s power structure, becoming a one-way street in which concessions flow to hardliners while the president gains little in return.
Since taking office, Pezeshkian has softened his language, accommodated rivals in key appointments, and defended compromise as the price of stability.
Hardliners, however, have treated reconciliation not as mutual restraint but as opportunity—using it to settle scores, reclaim positions, and advance policies that run directly against his campaign pledges.
That imbalance was underscored last week by reformist daily Sharq, which warned that Pezeshkian’s conciliatory posture had become “a one-way road" for his political rivals.
“In private, hardline MPs admit fuel prices must rise; in public, they posture as defenders of the poor,” the paper wrote, adding that critics who decry internet filtering or strict hijab enforcement often exploit the same issues for political gain.
Taking advantage
Pezeshkian’s invocation of vefaq—the Arabic term for unity or accord—was meant to signal cooperation with constructive actors. Moderates now argue it has been interpreted as surrender rather than partnership.
Even explicit backing from the Supreme Leader has done little to shield the government.
According to Sharq, hardliners routinely reframe his remarks to suit their own narrative, while parliamentarians amplify public anxiety by exaggerating crises such as fuel price hikes, spreading unsubstantiated claims, and calling for prosecutions that weaken state institutions.
A review of daily statements published on parliament’s official website, icana.ir, shows a steady stream of alarmist rhetoric and political point-scoring, reinforcing the impression of a faction more invested in spectacle than governance.
Compromise or surrender?
Rouydad24 this week extended the critique to Pezeshkian himself, questioning his repeated claims that he is resisting hardliner pressure.
The outlet cited his appointment of Saghab Esfahani as vice president for energy consumption optimization as evidence of retreat.
“A president who reached office by promising honesty and resilience,” it wrote, “now repeats the language of resistance while compromising his ideals simply to remain in office.”
For a society long scarred by unfulfilled promises, such language signals repetition, not resolve.
Hardliners, Sharq concluded, offer no credible solutions to Iran’s mounting crises. Their relevance is sustained through vendettas, institutional erosion, and the exploitation of public grievance.
Columnist Zohreh Farahani argued in a December 16 commentary that real governance requires courage, accountability, and respect for the rule of law, suggesting that all were absent from the current administration in Tehran.
The result is a deepening political deadlock, he asserted. Reconciliation has moved in only one direction, leaving Pezeshkian weakened, moderates increasingly disillusioned, and Iran’s power balance as rigid as ever.
Tehran’s unveiling of a towering statue depicting the Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling before pre-Islamic Persian King Shapur I has renewed criticism of the Islamic Republic’s appeal to nationalist sentiment following the June war with Israel.
For over forty years, the theocracy purged ancient Persian history from schoolbooks, replacing it with post-Islamic narratives. But after the 12-day conflict with Israel, officials have turned to the distant pre-Islamic past to rally a divided society.
From murals of ancient kings and soldiers to patriotic songs added to Shi’ite mourning ceremonies performed before Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Tehran now embraces imagery once deemed heretical by its own revolutionary ethos.
'Kneel before Iran' campaign
Tehran’s Revolution (Enghelab) Square was the scene of an unusual spectacle on Friday as officials unveiled a massive bronze statue depicting Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling in submission before Sassanid King Shapur I, commemorating Iran’s victory at the Battle of Edessa (260 AD).
The event was held under the slogan “Kneel before Iran,” part of what authorities describe as a campaign to project “national unity and historical pride” following the June war with Israel.
Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani, a staunch ultraconservative, said on X: “Enmity with Great Iran can only end in kneeling before this historic nation.”
Municipal official Davood Goodarzi said the installation would be accompanied by visual displays depicting “other victories of Iranians over foreign aggressors,” including the defeat of British forces by local commander Rais-Ali Delvari, Mirza Kuchak Khan’s resistance against Russian troops, and Surena’s triumph over Rome at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BCE.
The goal, Goodarzi said, is “strengthening concepts such as national dignity, social unity, and Iranian identity.”
The statue, he said, would remain temporarily at Revolution Square before being moved to a city gateway “where it will stand as the first emblem of Iran before diplomats and foreign visitors.”
Unveiled women were allowed to attend the unveiling ceremony—an uncommon scene at events organized by Tehran’s ultra-hardline municipality.
The turn to the pre-Islamic past
The sharp reversal also recalls remarks once made by Khamenei. In a 2011 speech, he asserted that “all the great military victories of this nation came after Islam,” dismissing pre-Islamic accounts as “things that are not documented.”
In 1987, he had said that prophets triumphed over kings such as Cyrus and that “nothing remains of these monarchs in history but names remembered with derision.”
Nevertheless, pro-government social media accounts have now gone so far as to circulate posters equating Khamenei himself with Shapur, showing him standing with a staff as Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump kneel before him. The caption reads: “You will kneel before Iran.”
'Hypocrisy'
Pro-government figures have hailed the move as a patriotic success. Conservative political reporter Hossein Saremi posted: “Today’s grand Iranian gathering showed that people and the state share one essence: Iran itself. Nothing can take our homeland away.”
Others, however, called the spectacle “hypocrisy.” Journalist Gholamhossein Pashaei wrote on X: “Every year you close Pasargadae to stop people from celebrating Cyrus Day, yet you unveil Shapur’s statue in Enghelab Square with drums and fireworks during Fatimiyya (mourning period)!”
Dissident commentator Hamid Asafi called the ceremony “a perfect snapshot of the Islamic Republic’s contradictions.”
On Telegram he wrote: “A week ago they closed Cyrus’s tomb out of fear of the crowds, and now they glorify Shapur in the same breath. The Islamic Republic fears living history but poses for selfies with its corpse.”
He added: “They know people no longer respond to rosaries and sermons. That’s why they’ve brought history back to the stage—in a controlled costume. If they can’t erase the past, they’ll try to own it.”
The irony deepened as UNESCO formally recognized Cyrus’s Charter as one of the earliest human-rights documents.
President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on X: “Iran, the cradle of dialogue, justice, and coexistence, can still inspire peace today.”
Users swiftly replied, questioning how such pride could coexist with a government that blocks access to Cyrus’s tomb each year to those wishing to visit it on his birthday.