{"id":334298,"date":"2025-07-16T21:35:42","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T20:35:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=334298"},"modified":"2025-07-16T21:35:42","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T20:35:42","slug":"iranian-regime-officials-admit-fear-of-uprising-blame-infiltration-for-failures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/iran-protests\/iranian-regime-officials-admit-fear-of-uprising-blame-infiltration-for-failures\/","title":{"rendered":"Iranian Regime Officials Admit Fear of Uprising, Blame \u2018Infiltration\u2019 for Failures"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The
The Iranian regime fears a popular uprising more than it fears a foreign war<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Three-minute read<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In the aftermath of recent military conflict, top officials in Tehran are not projecting confidence, but revealing a deep-seated fear of their own citizens. Public statements from regime president Masoud Pezeshkian\u2019s inner circle expose a leadership haunted by the prospect of popular uprising, scrambling to create a narrative of “infiltration” to explain its security failures while unleashing a brutal internal crackdown.<\/p>\n

Pezeshkian himself admitted<\/a> on July 15, 2025, that the primary threat during the conflict was internal. He stated that the “enemy’s plan” was for “dissatisfied people” to “take to the streets” and trigger the “collapse of the system.” This admission frames the regime’s primary concern not as an external military threat, but as a domestic population on the brink of revolt.<\/p>\n

A Regime Haunted by Past Uprisings<\/h2>\n

This fear of a popular overthrow is a recurring theme among the regime’s top figures. Ali Rabiee, a former deputy intelligence minister and now an advisor to Pezeshkian, confessed on July 15<\/a> that the ultimate goal of the recent war was the “collapse of the system.” He voiced a deep anxiety about the consequences, stating, “Any kind of overthrow after a war has not made any society happy… We don’t know what will happen to Iran at all!”<\/p>\n

Former Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, in a remarkably candid statement<\/a> on July 13, 2025, explicitly linked the regime\u2019s current insecurity to past uprisings and the organized opposition. He recalled the nationwide protests that began in Mashhad in late 2017, noting that John Bolton\u2019s subsequent speech at the Iranian Resistance\u2019s gathering in Paris convinced the Trump administration that the regime was “on the verge of collapse,” leading directly to the U.S. withdrawal from the nuclear deal.<\/p>\n

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#Iranian<\/a> Officials Warn of \u201cLibya Scenario\u201d Amid Deepening Fear of Uprising and Escalating Crackdownshttps:\/\/t.co\/vLWWYwIlap<\/a><\/p>\n

— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) June 1, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n