Acknowledgment by the Minister of Culture of the Medical Government of Public Distrust Towards the Regime

Two days after the holding of a "110,000-strong" military drill by the Islamic Republic's forces in Tehran, which experts say is a practice for urban suppression, the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance acknowledged that the trust of the Iranian people in the government has "significantly decreased" and that the Islamic Republic is facing a "social capital challenge." Abbas Salehi, the Minister of Culture and Guidance of the Islamic Republic, stated on Sunday, January 13, in remarks to reporters, that "we have a challenge of social capital across the entire governance. That is, the trust of the people in governance and ruling has sharply decreased in recent decades, and in all surveys and statistics from various sources, the speed of decline of social capital and trust in rulers and governance institutions is quite clear, and it has accelerated in the field of art." He also pointed to "various factors," emphasizing that a serious rift has emerged between the "social capital of artists" and the Islamic Republic, and the government is facing "anger, distance, protest, and hatred" from cultural and artistic figures. Abbas Salehi added: "We do not want to deceive ourselves. We must understand our social reality and face it with a correct perception. We cannot bury our heads in the snow like an ostrich." The acknowledgment by this senior government official of public distrust towards the regime and the significant decline of the Islamic Republic's social capital comes two days after the holding of the "110,000-strong" drill in Tehran. The Islamic Republic held this urban suppression drill on Friday while many provinces were closed on Saturday and Sunday under the pretext of air pollution and energy conservation. Following widespread protests after the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of the morality police, a group of cultural and sports figures supported the public protests, and some women actors and athletes removed their mandatory hijabs, an action that led to legal cases, arrests, and work bans against them. One of the latest actions against artists is the prohibition of domestic flights for Taraneh Alidoosti, which, although denied by the judiciary, has been confirmed by Zahra Minoui, the lawyer of this well-known actress, who stated that in addition to the ban on flights within Iran, she has also been prohibited from transactions. Documents previously provided to VOA by the hacker group "Ali Justice" show that the intelligence agencies of the Islamic Republic, in collaboration with several ministries and state media, have been trying for years to "manage specific figures" and have created cases against some cultural and sports personalities. According to these documents, a committee titled "Specific Figures" was formed in the Ministry of Interior's Security Council on September 26, 2022, just ten days after the protests began, based on "reports from security and intelligence agencies." The documents list artistic figures such as Mahmoud Shahryari, Taraneh Alidoosti, Babak Ahmadi, Amir Maghareh, Mehran Modiri, Fatemeh Motamed-Arya, Hediyeh Tehrani, Azadeh Samadi, Parviz Parastoui, Mahtab Nasirpour, and Hengameh Qaziani among those categorized as "specific figures" by intelligence agencies. Ali Daei, Voria Ghafouri, Hossein Mahini, and Aref Gholami are among the sports figures on this list. The closure of Ali Daei's restaurants and the prohibition of Saeed Marouf from leaving the country are other documents provided to VOA. The head of the cinema organization stated that "unveiled" actors cannot perform until they "apologize." The mother of Leili Rashidi reported the confiscation of her daughter's passport, phone, and personal computer at the airport. Pantea Bahram was banned from teaching and working by the Ministry of Guidance. The actor of the film "Ayah's Earth" was banned from leaving the country for attending the Cannes festival with optional attire. The cinema guild described the prohibition of female actors as a "clear instance of crisis creation."