Rohani Calls for 'Unity and Internal Cohesion' at Meeting of Three Branches of Government

The first meeting of the heads of Iran's three branches of government in the new solar year took place on Monday, April 6, with the presence of Hassan Rohani, the President, Ali Larijani, the Speaker of Parliament, and Sadeq Larijani, the Head of the Judiciary, at Rohani's office. According to the Iranian Presidential Information Center, Hassan Rohani told reporters after the meeting that the heads of all three branches emphasized that today, internal unity and cohesion are more necessary than ever. Rohani also stated that the officials of the three branches stressed the need to address the economic issues facing the people and to provide economic support to them. According to the President of Iran, the government this year focuses on 'employment development' and 'fighting poverty' as two key principles. Additionally, Rohani mentioned that considering the designation of this year as 'the year of support for domestic production' by the Supreme Leader of Iran, the heads of the three branches emphasized 'improving the quality of these products' and also 'controlling excessive imports and especially combating smuggling' to support domestic production. The first meeting of the heads of the Islamic Republic's three branches took place against a backdrop of widespread protests in Iran in 2017 regarding the economic situation. In addition to widespread gatherings of depositors in various cities, educators and especially workers have repeatedly gathered to protest their poor living conditions. In the most significant of these protests, which occurred in January of last year in dozens of cities, criticism of rising prices quickly escalated to political, cultural, and social issues, affecting all institutions and officials in the country, including the Supreme Leader. Iranian officials have reported 25 fatalities during the nationwide protests in January and stated that three others died 'by suicide' in prisons. Human rights organizations reject the claims of 'suicides' among prisoners and believe the number of casualties in the streets is higher. Hassan Rohani stated late last year that the direction of criticism was not solely directed at the government. However, he noted that the government heard the protests while others attempted to create 'static on the frequency of protests.' Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, the Minister of Interior, also warned that the factors causing dissatisfaction from January have not yet been resolved and 'a spark is enough to ignite.' Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, referred to the nationwide protests in January as a 'bitter incident' in his Nowruz message and indicated that the economic problems should be addressed. In his speech in Mashhad, while providing an 'overview of the 40-year performance of the Islamic Republic,' the Supreme Leader stated that the performance over the past four decades in terms of economy, freedom, and independence has been 'acceptable and good.' Meanwhile, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the former President of Iran, has repeatedly written to the Supreme Leader stating that there has been no freedom for 40 years. Furthermore, aside from the contradictory statistics regarding the number of people living below the absolute poverty line in Iran, varying figures have been reported regarding the number of marginalized individuals, ranging from 11 to 16 million. Recently, the Statistical Center of Iran announced that 10,000 households in Iran live in 'tents, huts, shanties, and slums.'