Political opponents arrested in Iran -reformist leaders and film producers

Tehran: Iran has started arresting people making statements against the Iranian supreme religious leader Ayatollah Khamenei. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards have arrested Morteza Tajzadeh, a reformist leader and two film producers. The Revolutionary Guards accused Tajzadeh and his supporters were becoming a threat to national security. Meanwhile, Tajzadeh had blamed Ayatollah Khamenei for the failure of negotiations regarding the nuclear deal with the United States.

The negotiations between the United States and Iran in Doha have failed. Both the countries are accusing the other of failure. The Biden administration has given a mixed response regarding future talks. Iran claimed that the negotiations regarding the nuclear deal were impossible with the United States. Therefore, some people from Iran, fearing a backlash from the western countries, accused Khamenei of being responsible for the failure of talks with the United States.

Morteza Tajzadeh, who served as the Internal Security Minister in the government of former Iranian President Mohammed Khatami, held supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei responsible for this. Tajzadeh made vitriolic criticism that the country’s economic condition is in terrible shape and the country is facing social discontent. Failure of talks to revive the nuclear deal can have destructive consequences. The supreme leader of the country is entirely responsible for this. Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei has all the authority in the country. Criticising Khamenei in view of the unlimited power concentrated in his hands is not easy. Iran is facing a significant inflation flare-up and unemployment is becoming a daunting problem. Some parts of Iran are also faced with water shortages. Even in this situation, no one exhibits the courage to criticise Khamenei directly. Some people blame the Iranian government and agencies for the failure on social media. But Tajzadeh levelled allegations directly against the supreme leader on social media.

After that, Revolutionary Guards arrested Tajzadeh and two film producers, Mohammed Rasaulof and Mostafa Al-Ahmed. Action has been initiated against them, saying they threaten Iranian security. Rasaulof and Ahmed had levelled allegations against the Revolutionary Guards. Rasaulof and Ahmed accused the Iranian security agencies are acting against their citizens.

Meanwhile, protests have been held in Iran even in the last year. The protests had flared up in more than 20 cities, including the capital Tehran. Teachers, workers, the trading community, along with students participated in the protests.