Two Members of Parliament Call for a Referendum on Iran's 'Domestic and Foreign Issues'

Two members of the Iranian Parliament have called for a referendum "to solve some domestic and foreign issues," including topics related to foreign policy, the management of state media, the Guardian Council's oversight, and the Assembly of Experts. Parvaneh Salahshouri and Gholamreza Heydari, both members of the Hope faction in Parliament, also strongly criticized the performance of institutions under the Supreme Leader and the state of the country in their speeches on Tuesday, September 4. Salahshouri, a member of the Women's faction, referred to President Hassan Rouhani's statement that "we have no crisis," adding that "we are currently grappling with major challenges, and everyone knows it." She emphasized that "by keeping critics silent, nothing remains of the republic, and with corruption and unjust judicial rulings, we have not institutionalized the Islamic utopia we aspired to." The Tehran representative criticized the performance of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, stating, "I wanted to criticize the military and paramilitary institutions and their comprehensive involvement in the country's affairs, but how can one protest against a group that holds the trifecta of power, wealth, and military force?" Salahshouri also addressed the Supreme Leader, stating that "the only way out of the current major challenges is for the leadership to intervene to save the country." She pointed out that Ayatollah Khomeini's order to change the constitution indicates that there is a need for a referendum and to obtain "the people's vote and opinion" in areas such as foreign policy, the management of state media, and the Guardian Council's oversight of elections, which has "severely weakened the republican aspect of the system." The proposal for a referendum to change the Islamic Republic's constitution has previously faced negative reactions from close associates of the Supreme Leader. Last year, Rouhani's speech at the government ceremony on February 11, where he mentioned the issue of a referendum, drew severe criticism from close aides of Ayatollah Khamenei. For instance, Ahmad Alamolhoda, the Friday prayer leader of Mashhad, implicitly labeled this suggestion as a sign of support for "secular democracy." Ahmad Khatami, the Friday prayer leader of Tehran, also stated: "To the anti-Islamic, anti-Iranian state network and the exiled anti-revolutionaries who are pleased with some comments, I say that they will never achieve their wish for a referendum and public vote." Salahshouri concluded her remarks by calling for the "return of military institutions to barracks," "supportive measures for the lower classes," "the freedom of Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, and Zahra Rahnavard," "the freedom of political prisoners and their amnesty, and a general amnesty for the return of Iranians abroad," and "granting legal permission to the private sector to establish radio and television and break the monopoly of state media." Other demands raised in this representative's speech included "the accountability of all branches of the system," "the end of the humiliation of women and changing laws," and "freedom of the press and media in both real and virtual spaces." Salahshouri announced on her Twitter that some conservative representatives in Parliament protested her speech with "harsh language." Meanwhile, "40 conservative representatives" sent a letter to the Ethics Committee requesting an investigation into the speeches of Salahshouri and Heydari. The mentioned representatives deemed these remarks as "unfounded" and "causing public confusion regarding the pillars of the Islamic Republic." Concurrently, Hamidreza Hajibabaei, a conservative representative, remarked: "Many insults were directed at the system here; those who listen to the Parliament's radio may mistakenly think it is the radio of the other side of the water." Gholamreza Heydari, another member of the Hope faction, also called for public votes "to solve some domestic and foreign issues" in his speech on Tuesday. This Tehran representative emphasized that the Islamic Republic's foreign policy has faced "a negative outlook towards the world from the beginning." He stressed that the U.S. embassy "was the starting point for the initiation of sanctions and war" and criticized the continuation of the Iran-Iraq war after the liberation of Khorramshahr from Iraqi forces. Heydari added: "We had not yet recovered from the reconstruction of war-torn areas when we started nuclear activities, and we paid so much for this that we reached a heroic flexibility that resulted in the acceptance of the JCPOA, and before the ink of the JCPOA dried, we launched missiles, which became an excuse for escalating tensions." Criticism of the Islamic Republic's foreign policy and nuclear program is rarely raised in parliamentary speeches. Previously, Ahmad Shirzad, a member of the sixth Parliament, stated in a speech: "An image has been created of a regime that lies and does not adhere to its commitments to the international community... A few days ago, some European newspapers had headlines stating that the Islamic Republic of Iran lied to the world for 19 years." In his speech, Heydari also referred to the depreciation of the rial against the dollar and the sharp rise in prices, adding: "Are we the price-setters of the world that we want to rub everyone's noses in the ground?" This representative also stated that in the Islamic Republic, "powers are concentrated in one place, and responsibilities are in another, which causes friction and a severe decrease in productivity in managing the country's affairs." Heydari emphasized: "If we do not want a weak president and a parliament incapable of fulfilling its duties, the structure of governing the country must be transparently redesigned in a different way." He also criticized the continued house arrest of the leaders of the Green Movement and the media ban on Mohammad Khatami, the former president of Iran. Heydari concluded by saying: "Let us be aware that mafia groups behind financial institutions, commodity smuggling, major financial debtors, and the severely chaotic currency and coin market could suddenly suffocate the entire system." Both Gholamreza Heydari and Parvaneh Salahshouri have previously protested the continued house arrest of the Green Movement leaders. In the tenth Parliament and before that, several representatives were summoned to court and sentenced to prison due to their speeches and remarks in the open session of Parliament. Additionally, according to reports, several representatives in previous terms have been disqualified due to their speeches. However, many representatives and legal experts consider the prosecution of representatives for their remarks in the open session of Parliament to be illegal.