Ahmad Khatami Strongly Criticizes Comparison of Current Conditions with the 'Shah's Era'

Ahmad Khatami, the Friday Prayer Imam of Tehran and a member of the Assembly of Experts, strongly criticized those who compare the current state of the country with the 'Shah's era', calling it 'very brazen'. According to IRNA, this member of the Assembly of Experts said on Thursday during a visit to Abarkooh and in a meeting with Friday Prayer Imams and officials of religious committees in the city: 'It is very brazen; when a problem arises in society, some quickly compare the current society with the past regime and say it was not like this during the cursed Shah.' The Tehran Friday Prayer Imam criticized the past government of Iran, stating: 'At that time, there was no religion in the level of governance, independence, and freedom; Iran was a slave to America, and a suffocating atmosphere prevailed over the country.' In the nationwide protests of December 2017, which affected over a hundred cities in Iran, many protesters shouted slogans in support of the Pahlavi regime and expressed regret over the 1979 revolution. Slogans such as 'May the spirit of Reza Shah be blessed', 'What a mistake we made by revolting', 'O King of Iran, return to Iran', and 'Iran without a king has no accountability' were among the chants heard in these protests. Reza Pahlavi, the former crown prince of Iran, expressed support for these protests, stating that the people of Iran 'intend to shape their destiny based on what they desire.' Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, had previously criticized the slogans raised during the nationwide protests in December, stating on February 1 that 'going back is impossible, and the people have left those dark days behind.' The protesters' slogans initially focused solely on economic issues but later expanded to political matters, including harsh slogans against Ali Khamenei. The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic attributed the nationwide protests to 'enemies' and also to 'a wealthy government in the region.' On the other hand, Ahmad Khatami, a member of the Assembly of Experts, said in another speech in Abarkooh on Thursday that '200 seminaries were attacked' during the events of December and '15 offices of Friday Prayer Imams and Hussainiyas were also attacked.' According to official statistics, around five thousand people were arrested during the December protests, including over 400 in Tehran. Official reports also state that 25 people were killed in these protests, with reports of at least seven deaths in custody. Khatami's criticism of the comparison of current conditions with the 'Shah's era' comes as, in recent days, with the sudden increase in the price of the dollar to around six thousand tomans, some social media users have compared the pre-revolution price of seven tomans to the current price nearing seven thousand tomans under the Islamic Republic. However, Ahmad Alamolhoda, the Friday Prayer Imam of Mashhad, stated in his sermon on April 13 that if the government had implemented the Leader's order to remove the dollar from foreign transactions, today the dollar in Iran 'would have no value and would be humiliated like in America.' A few days earlier, Valiollah Seif, the Governor of the Central Bank of Iran, had stated in the Islamic Consultative Assembly that he had proposed replacing the dollar with the euro in foreign transactions to the Supreme Leader, and Ayatollah Khamenei had agreed to this proposal. For over a decade, the suggestion to replace the euro with the dollar in foreign transactions has been repeatedly raised by various officials in different Iranian governments but has not been realized. However, according to Ahmad Alavi, an economist residing in Sweden, despite efforts to eliminate the dollar from Iran's foreign transactions, 'in practice, Iran's economy has become more dollarized' and 'traders and ordinary people also pay attention to the dollar price in their daily transactions; let alone merchants and investors who are active in the global arena.'