Three-minute read
As the Iranian regime teeters under mounting economic collapse and social unrest, internal feuds have erupted across every layer of its political establishment. The latest skirmishes — over gasoline price hikes, ministerial impeachments, and the controversial CFT financial convention — expose a power structure consumed by distrust and decay.
A Government at War with Itself
The Pezeshkian administration, already besieged by public anger over rising prices and collapsing living standards, now faces open revolt from within the regime’s own parliament. Extremist factions are pushing to impeach at least four cabinet ministers, accusing the government of “inefficiency” and “foreign compliance.”
In an unusually defensive appearance on state television, government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani pleaded for calm, boasting that “cabinet members have appeared over 300 times before parliament this year” — an admission that ministers are constantly on the defensive before rival power centers. She urged lawmakers not to “destabilize ministries,” acknowledging that the regime’s internal disorder is worsening an already desperate situation.
Even so, the government’s attempt at portraying “unity” is fooling no one. Each faction — from clerics to generals to parliamentarians — is jostling for survival in a system where loyalty no longer guarantees protection.
#Iranian Officials Split Over Russia, Economics and Talks with Washingtonhttps://t.co/nvYXIFtKrH
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) October 18, 2025
The Gasoline Gamble
While power struggles dominate Tehran’s halls, the government is quietly preparing one of its most explosive economic measures: a 300–500 percent hike in fuel prices. Lawmaker Hamid Rasaee confirmed that the price of rationed gasoline will jump from 1,500 to 5,500 tomans per liter, contradicting official denials from the Pezeshkian cabinet.
Even state-aligned newspapers such as Arman-e Emrooz have warned that the plan risks “a repeat of November 2019,” when a sudden fuel hike triggered nationwide protests that left hundreds of dead. Economists cited by state outlets oppose what they call “shock therapy,” warning that such a move amid 40% inflation could ignite a new wave of unrest.
The last time the regime touched gasoline prices, it sparked one of the largest uprisings in the regime’s history. That memory now haunts both government and parliament — yet fiscal desperation leaves them little choice. As one analyst put it bluntly, “They are squeezing the last drops of compliance from a starving nation.”
#Iran’s Power Struggle: A Fractured Regime Hiding Behind Bold Rhetorichttps://t.co/SzNeQLYdh4
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) October 16, 2025
The Clergy’s Fear of Collapse
Even the Friday pulpits — once the regime’s loudspeakers of certainty — now echo fear and fatigue.
Ahmad Alamolhoda, Khamenei’s representative in Mashhad, urged followers not to “lose spirit” or “believe the revolution has failed,” a statement that revealed far more weakness than faith. “Do not say the country cannot be fixed,” he pleaded, warning against “cutting off” from the revolution — a direct admission that disillusionment has spread within the clerical and security ranks.
In Isfahan, another senior cleric, Mojtaba Mirdamadi, begged state television to broadcast “programs answering doubts and suspicions,” lamenting that young Iranians are no longer persuaded by official propaganda. The regime’s ideological armor — once its strongest weapon — is visibly cracking.
#Iran’s Power Struggle Escalates as State Media Admits Setbacks, Snapback Tightens, and the Street Simmershttps://t.co/sxHEeUIuiK
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) October 12, 2025
The CFT Firestorm
The dispute over Iran’s adherence to the CFT (Convention on the Financing of Terrorism) has opened another front in the regime’s internal war. Speaker Mohammad-Baqer Ghalibaf formally forwarded the ratification law to the regime’s president Masoud Pezeshkian, even as 150 MPs demanded its withdrawal, calling it a “danger to national security.”
Khamenei-aligned MPs such as Mahmoud Nabavian accused the government of “handing intelligence about financial networks and charities to foreigners” and “betraying revolutionary groups like Hezbollah and Hamas.” They argue that the CFT would expose the regime’s covert funding of proxy militias — a cornerstone of its regional strategy — to international scrutiny.
The debate is more than bureaucratic. It pits those seeking minimal economic survival under sanctions against those who prefer ideological isolation to any hint of change. In the process, the Supreme Leader’s own camp stands divided, with loyalists attacking one another from the mosque to the parliament floor.
Intensified Factional Fighting Within #Iran's Clerical Regime Amidst Criseshttps://t.co/rZfrRCgW7v
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) April 6, 2025
The Perfect Storm Within
What was once framed as “unity under pressure” has turned into open warfare among Iran’s rulers. From the president’s cabinet to the Friday pulpits, from the parliament floor to the streets, every faction is blaming the other for a crisis that none can contain.
The fuel hikes, ministerial impeachments, CFT rift, and clerical despair are not isolated events but symptoms of a dying system that feeds on internal conflict. Each new scandal and economic blow deepens the regime’s existential crisis.