Younesi: Ahmadinejad's faction played a significant role in the recent protests

Ali Younesi, the special assistant to the Iranian president for ethnic and religious minorities, stated that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's faction played a "significant role" in laying the groundwork for the recent protests. He also mentioned that the management of these protests was in the hands of those who had lost the elections and did not want Hassan Rouhani and the reformist faction to regain executive control of the country. Younesi emphasized that Ahmadinejad's faction was instrumental in this matter and that the disrespectful actions they took were a catalyst for the recent protests. In an interview with the Arman newspaper on Saturday, February 3, he said that the initial design of these protests was aimed at toppling Rouhani's government. He stressed that, in his view, state media and some Friday prayer leaders and government institutions played a role at the beginning of the protests in December, and their role is "undeniable" with the aim of "toppling" Rouhani's government. Younesi added that those who designed this game had forgotten that it is a dangerous game and that they may be the initiators, but they will certainly not be the ones to end it, and soon the management of this dangerous game will slip out of their hands. Previously, some officials from Rouhani's government, including Es'hagh Jahangiri, the first vice president, and Ahmad Meidari, the deputy minister of cooperatives, labor, and social welfare, had implicitly mentioned the role of Ahmad Alamolhoda, the Friday prayer leader of Mashhad, in organizing the gathering on December 7 in Mashhad. The Union of the Nation Party, a reformist party, also explicitly mentioned the roles of Ebrahim Raisi, the custodian of the Astan Quds Razavi, and Ayatollah Ahmad Alamolhoda in organizing these gatherings in Mashhad. However, Ayatollah Alamolhoda has denied these accusations. The protests in December began with slogans against Hassan Rouhani during the gathering on December 7 in Mashhad, but from that day, some protesters shouted slogans against all officials of the Islamic Republic, and in the following days, some protesters called for a change of government. The leader and several other officials of the Islamic Republic have accused the United States, Israel, and Saudi Arabia of organizing these gatherings, and Mohsen Rezaei, the secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council of Iran, claimed without providing evidence that some officials from these countries and associates of Saddam Hussein organized these protests in a meeting in Erbil, Iraq. Nechirvan Barzani, the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, and officials from the United States and Israel have denied this claim. Meanwhile, Mahmoud Sadeghi, a member of parliament, tweeted that "according to intelligence officials, no foreign agent has been involved in the recent unrest so far." Mohammad Ali Jafari, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, while accusing foreign countries of being involved in these gatherings, also implicitly mentioned the possibility of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's role in these protests. Ali Younesi, the Iranian president's assistant, on Saturday also spoke about other reasons for the December protests, stating that "some governing institutions have played a role in raising people's expectations of the government." Younesi also referred to the launch of the "We regret voting for Rouhani" campaign shortly after the introduction of Rouhani's cabinet, stating that "unfortunately" this campaign received support from "some segments of the lower body of the reformist faction." He added that "nevertheless, the leaders and influential figures of the reformist faction quickly contained this wave and did not allow it to take deeper shape by justifying their supporters." After the introduction of Rouhani's cabinet, campaigns emerged in cyberspace expressing regret for voting for Rouhani in the presidential elections. Before the December protests, the issue of the budget for religious and military institutions had also led to protests, and an online campaign titled "Change the budget in favor of the people" was launched. According to statements from Islamic Republic officials, 25 people were killed and about five thousand were arrested during the December protests. There have also been reports of the deaths of Sina Ghanbari in Evin prison, Vahid Heydari and Shahab Abtahi Zadeh in Arak, Mohsen Adeli in Dezful, Saro Ghahramani and Kianoush Zandi in Sanandaj, but judicial officials of the Islamic Republic claim that they "committed suicide" or that their deaths were not related to the protests. In this context, Ahmadinejad's letter to Khamenei, against the Larijani brothers, the formal request of Ahmadinejad's associates from the Ministry of Interior for a protest gathering, the statements of the IRGC commander regarding the possible involvement of a "former official" of the system in the protests, and the ultimatum of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic to Ahmadinejad were also mentioned.