Faezeh Hashemi: The Grand Policy of the Islamic Republic is to Always Have an Enemy

Faezeh Hashemi stated that "innocent people" are imprisoned in Iran, criticizing some of the policies of Hassan Rouhani's government and the performance of the judiciary, while supporting the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and asserting that the grand policy of the Islamic Republic is to have a "permanent enemy." Hashemi made these remarks in an extensive interview conducted by the research and media platform "Tarikh Online" under the general title "Raw Brick." The daughter of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani elaborated on her personal history, her beginnings in sports, her efforts to promote women's sports, her entry into politics, her studies in Britain, her return to Iran, and her imprisonment. "My imprisonment made me stronger," Hashemi said, referring to her six-month sentence in Evin Prison in 2012 for "propaganda against the regime," claiming that her conviction was neither "rational" nor "legal." She added that enduring six months in prison reinforced her ideals and made her less concerned about the "costs" of imprisonment. Hashemi also spoke about "innocent people" who are imprisoned in Iran "without having committed any wrongdoing." Her interactions with certain prisoners have previously sparked controversy, including her meeting with Fariba Kamalabadi, a prominent Baha'i figure, which drew criticism from conservatives. Hashemi expressed surprise at the manner of her arrest by dozens of agents and shared memories of friendly interactions with media and civil activists while in prison. She explained that during her imprisonment, the judiciary and Evin Prison officials behaved as if they were under pressure from Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. In another part of her remarks, the former parliament member stated that in the Iranian political system, "files are constantly being fabricated" against managers, and many in this system have a "security perspective." She mentioned Hassan Rouhani as one of the managers who was part of the "purification committee" at the beginning of the revolution, who expelled university professors, and currently maintains the same "security perspective." Hashemi criticized the rotation of managers in Rouhani's government and questioned how many of them are repeat appointments. She added that there is no "real and scientific perspective on managers" in Rouhani's government, and "supervisory standards" in the system need to change. She lamented that "liars," "deceivers," "hypocrites," "pretenders," and "sycophants" are more successful in the system. The former editor of the newspaper "Zan" did not consider Rouhani's government successful in the areas of sports and women, but evaluated its foreign policy and cultural performance as defensible and successful. She stated that some government comments regarding the JCPOA and its surrounding issues are more for "internal consumption" and considers the agreement to be "one of the great achievements" and that signing it was "a very good thing." In another part of the interview, Hashemi spoke about the 2005 presidential election, stating that it was "engineered" according to officials of the time. She added that "the reformist friends in the Ministry of Interior announced that the election was out of our hands and we have no role in it." In the 2005 presidential election, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was a rival to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was declared the winner in the second round. Over ten years later, Faezeh Hashemi explicitly stated that that election was "beyond" mere "engineering" and that many irregularities were reported showing that the election process was out of the control of its executors. She also mentioned that her entire family opposed Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani's candidacy in the 2013 election, but her father "determined that he should run, and it was a good decision." Regarding the 2013 election results, she stated that the 2009 election "cost the regime a lot; it actually scared them from wanting to repeat that experience [of election fraud]." Hashemi reflected on the history and fate of her family, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Mohammad Khatami, and the reformists. She noted that the "Executives of Construction Party" was formed at the request of Ali Khamenei to make the political and electoral atmosphere more "competitive," but the leader prohibited ministers from joining this party. Hashemi spoke of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani's support for Mohammad Khatami's government and expressed regret that her father was "smeared" during the reformist era. Without naming Shirin Ebadi, she mentioned that during Khatami's presidency, she and two other reformists launched the famous "Tape Makers" project against her and Gholamhossein Karbaschi. She added, "Unfortunately, every time the reformists took over, they did not perform well," and she does not want to comment further on Khatami's presidency and the performance of the reformists. Hashemi previously criticized some members of the government and reformists for supporting Ali Larijani in the elections for the tenth parliament presidency, stating, "Some reformists betrayed the people in voting for the presidency of the tenth parliament." In another part of her interview, Hashemi addressed the "rumors" that have circulated over the years about the Hashemi Rafsanjani family. She stated that many properties, villas, lands, and lucrative contracts attributed to her family are "rumors" and that such news is not true. Hardline conservatives have strongly criticized Akbar Hashemi's approach, labeling it as "elitist." The family's wealth and their domestic and family travels have also faced criticism. Hashemi defended some of her father's actions during his presidency, claiming that during that time, "no Baha'i" was imprisoned. She also did not attribute the imprisonment of some political activists, including members of the Freedom Movement, to her father. She mentioned her father as one of the "supporters" of women's sports and noted that during that time, the "backward traditional" current, such as the Kayhan newspaper and some Friday prayer leaders, opposed women's sports. In another part of her remarks, Hashemi discussed her efforts to promote women's sports and added that after failing to win in the sixth parliamentary elections, she said goodbye to politics and went to study in Britain. She stated that she never bought a house in London, did not have a negative mindset about the people and social and cultural relations of the West, left her studies unfinished, and returned to Iran to continue her life. In response to a question about whether she discussed the "one-dimensional" and "exaggerated" portrayal of the West in the state media during Mohammad Hashemi's presidency with her uncle, she said, "No, I did not have such a discussion with him." Mohammad Hashemi, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani's brother, was the head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) from 1984 to 1994, during which many anti-American and anti-Western programs were produced and broadcast. Hashemi's remarks regarding her uncle's performance at IRIB, where he studied at the University of California, Berkeley, regarding the "exaggerated" portrayal of the West, were another focus of her interview. In response to why her uncle, who studied in America and saw the realities of that society, acted differently at IRIB, she said, "The grand policy of the Islamic Republic is that we must always have an enemy." Hashemi stated that according to this policy, "we must portray the enemy so badly that people will think this is really the enemy." In another part of the interview related to the Islamic Republic's policy in dealing with the West regarding the nuclear issue, she criticized this policy. She stated that we must "act based on national interests. The idea that we must always have a permanent enemy and view everything as a conspiracy is unacceptable. We have permanent friends and enemies, and we have always harmed our own interests. The only thing we do not think about is our own interests." Her remarks come at a time when one of the central terms in the speeches of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic is "enemy," which has at times become a subject of humor in cyberspace. Khamenei himself recently stated, "Some people get upset whenever the word enemy is repeated, but this repetition and warning, like the repetition of the word devil in the Holy Quran, is done to create constant awareness and is, in fact, to recognize conspiracy, not to have a delusion of conspiracy."