{"id":330416,"date":"2025-04-11T21:24:31","date_gmt":"2025-04-11T20:24:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=330416"},"modified":"2025-04-11T21:24:31","modified_gmt":"2025-04-11T20:24:31","slug":"why-the-clerical-regime-in-iran-needs-a-fake-opposition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/terrorism-a-fundamentalism\/why-the-clerical-regime-in-iran-needs-a-fake-opposition\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the Clerical Regime in Iran Needs A Fake Opposition"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<figure id=\"attachment_267473\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-267473\" style=\"width: 1000px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-267473\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/iran-uprising-night-05122022.jpg\" alt=\"iran-uprising-night-05122022\" width=\"1000\" height=\"572\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/iran-uprising-night-05122022.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/iran-uprising-night-05122022-300x172.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/iran-uprising-night-05122022-768x439.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/iran-uprising-night-05122022-150x86.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/iran-uprising-night-05122022-696x398.jpg 696w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-267473\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">FILE PHOTO: Protesters build street barriers against security forces during the 2022 uprising in Iran<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong><em>Four-minute read<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">In the clerical dictatorship ruling Iran, survival is a science. Facing deepening internal dissent, economic collapse, and historic voter boycotts, the ruling clerics have developed a dual strategy to defend their grip on power. On one hand, they remain unflinching in their use of brute force. Protesters have been gunned down, imprisoned, blinded, or disappeared in every major <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/archive\/national\/1992\/06\/01\/riots-reported-in-iranian-city\/1eeecfae-e5d3-4f59-ad4e-18a9f5d4385f\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">uprising since 1992<\/a>. But when repression alone risks provoking greater backlash, the regime turns to something more calculated: the engineering of false alternatives.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">This is not just a regime that censors opposition. It is a regime that manufactures opposition, producing carefully managed dissent and stage-managed slogans to mislead the public and the world alike.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Among these tools, the periodic use of the slogan <\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cReza Shah, Rest in Peace\u201d<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> stands out\u2014not for its popularity, but for its purpose.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Reza Shah Pahlavi, also called <em>Reza Khan<\/em> or commonly known as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/who-is-reza-the-bully-and-why-does-reza-pahlavi-seeks-credit-from-him\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Reza the Bully<\/em><\/a>, was the founder of the Pahlavi dynasty who ruled Iran with an iron hand until his forced abdication by the Allies during World War II.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Iranian?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Iranian<\/a> Regime\u2019s Calculated Use of Monarchists: A Political Decoy<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/yBZ1QJSnHd\">https:\/\/t.co\/yBZ1QJSnHd<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/iran_policy\/status\/1886106306681201059?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 2, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Behind the Stage: The Real Battle Is Over Alternatives<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134245418&quot;:true,&quot;134245529&quot;:true,&quot;335559738&quot;:160,&quot;335559739&quot;:80}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">What Iran\u2019s rulers fear most is not anger\u2014it is direction. Discontent can be controlled. But organized, goal-driven opposition, rooted in a clear political alternative, is a threat of a different kind.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">To preempt it, the regime invests heavily in information warfare and perception management. Through tightly controlled media, loyalist clerics, and embedded operatives in political and cultural spaces, it works to convince citizens\u2014and international observers\u2014that there is no path forward beyond the current system. If change is to come, they suggest, it must come from within: through so-called <\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">reformists<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">, <\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">royalist nostalgia<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">, or other deliberately weakened placeholders.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">This effort is not new. But its sophistication has grown, especially in moments when social unrest begins to crystallize around demands for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/terrorism-a-fundamentalism\/report-irans-clerical-dictatorship-edged-closer-to-regime-change-in-2024\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">real regime change<\/a>.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Golrokh Iraee from Evin Prison: Reformists and Monarchists Unite to Preserve Tyranny in <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Iran?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Iran<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/5UEiw2HYx5\">https:\/\/t.co\/5UEiw2HYx5<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/iran_policy\/status\/1908090547648025050?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 4, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">A Slogan with No Past, and a Political Function<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134245418&quot;:true,&quot;134245529&quot;:true,&quot;335559738&quot;:160,&quot;335559739&quot;:80}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">One of the most revealing elements of this strategy is the orchestrated appearance of slogans that serve the regime\u2019s narrative. The chant <\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cReza Shah, Rest in Peace\u201d<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> is a prime example. Before the late 2010s, the phrase was virtually nonexistent in Iran\u2019s protest vocabulary. It surfaced during the 2017 protests, which began over economic grievances but soon evolved into broader expressions of dissent.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">What made the chant notable was not its message, but its timing and choreography. In July 2018, the state-run <\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Jomhouri-e-Islami<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> published an article criticizing demonstrators outside the parliament who had used the chant. But the article let slip that the protestors had police escort, and were the same individuals often seen at regime-backed Friday prayers and public rallies. The page was quickly deleted, but the admission had already been <a href=\"https:\/\/donya-e-eqtesad.com\/%D8%A8%D8%AE%D8%B4-%D8%B3%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%AA-%D8%AE%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%86-62\/3405358-%D9%BE%D8%B4%D8%AA-%D9%BE%D8%B1%D8%AF%D9%87-%D8%B4%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D8%B1%D8%B6%D8%A7%D8%B4%D8%A7%D9%87-%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%AD%D8%AA-%D8%B4%D8%A7%D8%AF-%D9%85%D9%82%D8%A7%D8%A8%D9%84-%D9%85%D8%AC%D9%84%D8%B3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">picked up by other outlets<\/a>, confirming what many had suspected: this was not a grassroots slogan, but a planted one.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cThis group has become so brazen that they sent people to Parliament chanting unprecedented slogans like \u2018Reza Shah, Rest in Peace\u2019 and \u2018Death to freeloaders.\u2019 These same individuals regularly appear at Tehran Friday prayers and regime-organized rallies. They were even accompanied by the police, freely parading around,\u201d Jomhouri-e-Islami wrote on <\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">July 5, 2018.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Shah\u2019s Dictatorship: A Shield for the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Iranian?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Iranian<\/a> Regime\u2019s Continuity<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/bcMYgkoI4o\">https:\/\/t.co\/bcMYgkoI4o<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/iran_policy\/status\/1849527574571237604?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 24, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Weaponized Nostalgia as Political Smoke<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134245418&quot;:true,&quot;134245529&quot;:true,&quot;335559738&quot;:160,&quot;335559739&quot;:80}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The purpose of such slogans is not to call for monarchy\u2014it is to disrupt the momentum of real dissent. At moments when protests gain traction, especially when they risk cohering into anti-regime movements, the regime revives carefully chosen symbols of a bygone era. These symbols, stripped of political context and marketed as apolitical nostalgia, offer a safety valve: they absorb anger while steering it into a direction whose face, Reza Pahlavi, has lived a lavish life for almost half a century and is openly calling for cooperation with the current security forces for \u201ca peaceful transition of power.\u201d<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">But the system knows when the trick won\u2019t work. During the November 2019 uprising and again during the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/latest\/news\/2022\/09\/iran-deadly-crackdown-on-protests-against-mahsa-aminis-death-in-custody-needs-urgent-global-action\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2022 Mahsa Amini protests<\/a>, the slogan vanished entirely. In those moments, the streets echoed with chants aimed directly at the Supreme Leader. The regime responded with what it knows best: mass arrests, internet blackouts, and the use of live ammunition.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Every time Iranians have risen en masse to demand the fall of the dictatorship, the clerical establishment has chosen bloodshed over negotiation. But when it fears that open repression will inflame society further, it reaches instead for a toolkit of deception.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"und\" dir=\"ltr\">Who was Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Shah, Iran\u2019s Last Pahlavi Dictator?<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/0t7nTCbetQ\">https:\/\/t.co\/0t7nTCbetQ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/iran_policy\/status\/1651291803906351108?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 26, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">The Anatomy of Manufactured Opposition<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134245418&quot;:true,&quot;134245529&quot;:true,&quot;335559738&quot;:160,&quot;335559739&quot;:80}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">This is part of a larger regime playbook: simulate pluralism, suppress alternatives.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">For years, the system has cast reformists as its loyal opposition\u2014harmless in power, indispensable in crisis. Monarchists play the role of foil: nostalgic, fragmented, and incapable of organizing meaningful resistance. Together, they create the illusion of a contested political space.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Insider leaks and regime commentaries have even described this approach in strategic terms. One conservative outlet referred to the tactic as <\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cparazit\u201d<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u2014static injected into the national discourse to blur distinctions and cloud public perception. Intelligence officials have reportedly instructed state media to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/human-rights\/golrokh-iraee-from-evin-prison-reformists-and-monarchists-unite-to-preserve-tyranny\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">always mention monarchists<\/a> when discussing dissent, ensuring no organized domestic alternative ever takes center stage.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">What results is a form of political gaslighting: dissent is permitted, so long as it remains ineffective.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Iran?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Iran<\/a> News: State-Run Newspaper Says Reza Pahlavi and Monarchists Have Served Clerical Regime<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/iey2VpMKXU\">https:\/\/t.co\/iey2VpMKXU<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/iran_policy\/status\/1909716637831278756?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 8, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Revolution, not Transition<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134245418&quot;:true,&quot;134245529&quot;:true,&quot;335559738&quot;:160,&quot;335559739&quot;:80}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The clerical regime\u2019s most dangerous weapon is not its prisons or its bullets. It is its ability to curate the battlefield, shaping not just what people say, but what they think is possible.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The slogan <\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cReza Shah, Rest in Peace\u201d<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> is not a call for monarchy. It is a mirror held up by the regime to distract from the present. It is not dissent\u2014it is diversion. And when it no longer works, the mask drops. Tear gas and bullets take their place.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">As the international community seeks to understand Iran\u2019s trajectory, it must resist the regime\u2019s stagecraft. Manufactured opposition, simulated slogans, and co-opted movements are not signs of pluralism\u2014they are evidence of how far the regime will go to survive. The challenge now is not just to support the Iranian people\u2019s right to protest, but to recognize the difference between real resistance and the regime\u2019s carefully scripted imitations of it.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Four-minute read In the clerical dictatorship ruling Iran, survival is a science. Facing deepening internal dissent, economic collapse, and historic voter boycotts, the ruling clerics have developed a dual strategy [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":267473,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[287],"class_list":{"0":"post-330416","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-terrorism-a-fundamentalism","8":"tag-iran-terrorism"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Why the Clerical Regime in Iran Needs A Fake Opposition - NCRI<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Four-minute read In the clerical dictatorship ruling Iran, survival is a science. 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