When Iran\u2019s \u201chardliners\u201d took\u00a0control of the country\u2019s Parliament late last month, they\u00a0selected a former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf as\u00a0 its new speaker. An outspoken critic of Iran\u2019s \u201cmoderate\u201d President Hassan Rouhani, Qalibaf symbolizes rising internal disagreements between the \u201chardliners\u201d and \u201cmoderates\u201d in the midst of deepening economic woes and hardships.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
President Rouhani is eager to save the 2015 Iran nuclear deal after the United States withdrew from the deal and imposed unilateral sanctions on Tehran in 2018. As Rouhani approaches the end of his second term, with just one year left, he intends to implement a maximum engagement policy<\/a> to avert tensions with Parliament. Qalibaf after taking his position welcomed engagement with Rouhani, however, the \u201chardliners\u201d supporting him have criticized the president on numerous occasions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Iran\u2019s \u201chardliners\u201d have blamed Rouhani for the country\u2019s economic hardships<\/a>\u00a0 in recent years that have led to frequent protests against the Iranian government. Further\u00a0 protests could erupt across Iran over the summer due to the fallout from COVID-19. However, Rouhani\u2019s \u201cmoderate\u201d camp insists that government policies<\/a>\u00a0 such as a rise in\u00a0 state cash contributions to the Iranian people will avert unrest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Qalibaf is promising to fix the economy<\/a>. He has called on the government<\/a> to revise Iran\u2019s budgetary structure<\/a> and tax higher income households. By pressuring the government to revise the 2020 budget<\/a>, radical \u201chardliners\u201d who support former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad<\/a> have backed Qalibaf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After meeting with the hardline Guardian Council, Qalibaf agreed to a joint research project on population management<\/a> and the country\u2019s welfare system, as well as to expand cooperation on electoral laws. His first piece of legislation<\/a> is a three-tier bill that includes legal and financial support for environmental protection programs, a reduction in detention time in Iran\u2019s notorious prisons, and a proposal to start a direct air service between Iran and Kuwait. This piece of legislation is intended to win Qalibaf popular support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Qalibaf has said that he intends to create a cohesive Parliament, resist domestic and foreign threats, and follow the Supreme Leader. He wants Parliament not to compromise on Iran\u2019s revolutionary ideals<\/a>, and follow the legacy of Qassem Soleimani, the former commander of the Quds Force who was assassinated by the United States. Tellingly, he appointed Hamid Aslani as the executive deputy of the Parliament. Aslani was a close friend of Soleimani<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Approximately two-thirds of Iran\u2019s new Parliament<\/a> members are current or former members of the IRGC and the Basij forces. In the previous Parliament<\/a>, there were around 15 IRGC members. The new Parliament has at least 9 brigadiers and 18 commanders, indicating that the IRGC could easily control the legislative branch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Senior IRGC commanders<\/a> who met with Qalibaf after his appointment said they were ready\u00a0to cooperate<\/a> to fix the country\u2019s\u00a0 problems. They thanked Qalibaf for his service in the IRGC.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The IRGC-backed Qalibaf is making foreign policy announcements usually reserved for the Iranian president. In recent tweets, he suggested that Iran should not compromise<\/a> with the United States and quickly dismissed talks<\/a>, calling them futile. However, he emphasized\u00a0that Iran<\/a> was not looking for a clash either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Qalibaf wants to strengthen Iran\u2019s foreign relations with major powers such as Russia<\/a> and China<\/a> to help the country circumvent US sanctions. He has criticized Rouhani\u2019s policy<\/a> of ignoring Iran\u2019s neighbors while pursuing rapprochement with the West.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The new Parliament\u2019s responsibilities and prerogatives could expand under Qalibaf\u2019s leadership including greater involvement in foreign policy<\/a> decision-making. But it remains to be seen if\u00a0he can reduce the gap between state managers<\/a>. Politically, he\u00a0 needs to work with the government to overcome Iran\u2019s internal and foreign challenges, but he could end up hiding behind his slogans to conceal his failings and inability to put forward a cohesive plan to lift the situation of the country amid US sanctions and COVID-19. If this does happen, tensions could increase in the next year between Iran\u2019s government and Parliament, and Iran could descend into further disarray.\u00a0Thus, Qalibaf might squander his chance for a presidential bid<\/a> next year, and polarize<\/a> Iranian politics despite his promise to avoid this specter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When Iran\u2019s \u201chardliners\u201d took\u00a0control of the country\u2019s Parliament late last month, they\u00a0selected a former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf as\u00a0 its new speaker. An outspoken critic of Iran\u2019s \u201cmoderate\u201d President Hassan Rouhani, Qalibaf symbolizes rising internal disagreements between the \u201chardliners\u201d and \u201cmoderates\u201d in the midst of deepening economic woes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":8042,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[5275,5273,1507,3296,1576,355,5274,108,3297,1780],"class_list":["post-8041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reports","tag-baqer","tag-former","tag-iranian-parliament","tag-irans-2020-parliamentary","tag-irans-parliament","tag-irgc","tag-mohammad-baqer-qalibaf","tag-parliament","tag-parliamentary","tag-qalibaf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8041"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9184,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8041\/revisions\/9184"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}