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MP Mehdi Kouchakzadeh confronts Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf during a heated public session of the regime’s Majlis
Three-minute read
Iranian state-affiliated media on Monday openly reflected a sharpening internal confrontation between Masoud Pezeshkian’s government and the parliament, as soaring prices, currency shocks, and deepening poverty are turned into instruments of factional warfare inside the ruling system.
At the center of the escalation is parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who warned that if the government fails to contain inflation and the collapsing rial, the “priority” will be a cabinet reshuffle — followed by impeachment proceedings if the president resists. The message was unambiguous: economic failure is not being addressed but deliberately instrumentalized as factions maneuver to escape accountability for decades of repression and plunder.
All factions now attacking one another are products of the same ruling structure, with long records of repression, corruption, economic mismanagement, and participation in violent crackdowns. The current conflict does not represent pluralism or accountability; it is a scramble to shift blame as public anger intensifies and fears of a nationwide revolt grow.
#Iran’s Currency Breaks Records as Water Crisis, Toxic Air and Parliamentary Infighting Signal a System Under Strainhttps://t.co/DckQnOHn0e
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) December 8, 2025
Impeachment as an internal purge mechanism
According to Fararu, Ghalibaf explicitly linked parliamentary pressure to public hardship, stating that if cabinet “repairs” do not deliver results, lawmakers will be “forced” to initiate impeachments. In Iran’s system, such impeachments rarely serve public oversight; instead, they function as internal purges that paralyze ministries while insulating the most senior leaders from scrutiny.
In an interview with Etemad Online, Esmail Gerami-Moqaddam described Ghalibaf’s threat as unprecedented, arguing that a parliamentary minority is being used as leverage to pressure the executive. He said Pezeshkian’s policy of broad “consensus” has emboldened rival power centers to escalate their demands.
Other state-run newspapers echoed this warning, arguing that the so-called “consensus” has turned into a vulnerability exploited by factions seeking more positions and privileges rather than solutions to systemic collapse.
The Sinking State: #Iran’s Winter of Converging Criseshttps://t.co/B7d40XIcxo
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) December 18, 2025
Same regime, different scapegoats
Meanwhile, political analyst Mohammad Mohajeri, quoted by Eghtesad News, argued that some of the least effective figures in the current government are themselves linked to Ghalibaf’s political network. Mohajeri said the speaker’s threats are aimed at forcing Pezeshkian to absorb three or four additional loyalists into the cabinet — turning “reform” into a tool for redistributing power.
Arman Melli framed the standoff as a deliberate trap, arguing that parliament has exploited economic pain to push the government into a “reshuffle or impeachment” dilemma. The paper noted that under sanctions, capital flight, and structural decay, changing ministers risks becoming little more than cosmetic damage control.
Smog, Flu, and Fury: When #Iran’s Rulers Start Talking Like the Ruledhttps://t.co/rW28C0SdGr
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) December 11, 2025
Economic, social, and institutional collapse
Behind elite maneuvering lies a country under extreme strain. On December 22, 2025, Setare Sobh, citing figures attributed to the Ministry of Labor, claimed that absolute poverty has reached 44 percent, with millions surviving on less than two dollars a day. The paper highlighted falling calorie intake, shrinking access to healthcare and education, and growing psychological distress.
In a separate analysis, Setare Sobh warned that inflation in basic food items is approaching 70 percent, pushing workers and pensioners toward a social breaking point. The paper cautioned that once inflationary expectations become entrenched, they accelerate exponentially, raising fears of uncontrollable price spirals.
Institutional paralysis compounds the crisis. Khorasan argued that the government lacks a single, authoritative economic command structure, resulting in contradictory policies and mounting public frustration. Javan similarly described fragmented decision-making across ministries and agencies that issue conflicting signals to markets.
Currency markets have already lost confidence. The state-run Jahan-e Sanat argued that the rial no longer responds to official reassurances, reacting instead to rumors, political tension, and accumulated distrust built over years of instability.
#Iran faces a winter of crises: Deadly floods in the south kill at least seven, inflation drives up food and medicine costs, corruption diverts billions, amid elite infighting and blame game. https://t.co/WhuMjxTIp3
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) December 21, 2025
Preparing for fallout
Amid the fear of a social reaction to economic hardship, more factional mouthpieces concede that cabinet changes are inevitable. Farhikhtegan Daily, run by the Supreme Leader’s senior aid Ali Akbar Velayati, argued on December 22 that at least four key economic ministers — Industry, Oil, Agriculture, and Labor — lack the capacity to manage an economy under sanctions and crisis conditions. Another article in the same paper said that if the president refuses to act, parliament will force change through coordinated impeachments.
The IRGC-run Javan portrayed reshuffling as the “easier” option compared to impeachment, while dismissing the loudest threats as theatrics by a noisy minority. Yet the message is consistent across factions: the ruling elite is positioning itself for survival, not economic change.
What Iranian state media now reveal is a regime increasingly consumed by fear of accountability. The infighting between government and parliament is not a contest of visions but a struggle over who will bear the blame for economic ruin, social collapse, and decades of repression. As inflation surges and poverty spreads, the battle in Tehran is less about governance than about who might escape the public’s wrath when the next uprising erupts.