Fact-checking the Claims of Government Supporters
Which Achievement Became the Excuse for Protests
Fact-checking the claims of government supporters who have alleged that the recent protests were designed to overshadow and sideline the government’s successes, particularly the achievements from the New York trip. However, from the perspective of international relations experts or independent political activists, Ebrahim Raisi returned to the country without any achievements, and his one-year track record is devoid of any outstanding grades.
Although the publication of images of the cargo truck accompanying Ebrahim Raisi led social media users to conclude that the only achievement of Raisi’s and his entourage’s trip to New York was the American goods they brought back as souvenirs for their families and close associates, ranging from Xboxes to bodybuilding powder and diapers.
From 72% Popularity to 28%
The claims of Raisi’s supporters come at a time when surveys indicate a rapid decline in his popularity and performance assessment. The Asr Iran website conducted an online survey in September where users could rate Raisi’s performance from very good to very poor. Of the 24,631 participants in this survey, nearly 70% rated Raisi’s performance as very poor.
In August, the Maniban website conducted a survey regarding public satisfaction with the performance of the thirteenth government, asking its audience whether Seyed Ebrahim Raisi met their expectations in his first year of presidency. In this survey, 3,537 people participated, with over 88% saying no, and nearly 12% expressing satisfaction with the government’s performance.
The Statista Consulting Group’s survey in the last week of June this year indicated that satisfaction with Raisi’s performance had fallen below 28%. The Kio survey in April 2022, during the second 100 days of the government, also showed that about half of the respondents were dissatisfied with the government’s performance.
All of this is while in October of the previous year, based on a Gallup poll, 72% of Iranians expressed satisfaction with Raisi’s performance. It is unprecedented for any government leader in Iran to experience such a rapid and significant drop in popularity and performance indicators from the public’s perspective.
Which Achievement from the Trip
Mohammad Mohajeri, regarding the evaluation of Raisi’s trip, told Nameh News that the most important meeting of Mr. Raisi was with the French President, which turned into a ping-pong dialogue, and overall, from the news and reports, it seems that it was not a very friendly meeting. There were a lot of expectations about Mr. Raisi’s trip to New York.
According to Mohajeri, it was suggested that because Mr. Raisi would meet various political leaders at the UN, he could resolve the agency issue and pave the way for the revival of the JCPOA, but none of these things happened, which was predictable.
He stated that most of Mr. Raisi’s speech at the UN was repetitive or referenced clear and obvious topics. In fact, we did not witness any new discourse in Mr. Raisi’s speech, so his speech did not have any appeal for the audience. This trip did not yield any results for the country, and the reason is that the diplomatic apparatus in Mr. Raisi’s government is practically inactive and paralyzed. Naturally, in such a situation, any foreign trip of the president remains without achievements.
According to Mohajeri, Raisi’s presence at the Shanghai summit also had no achievements. This pact has a security nature, while we focused on the economic opportunities of membership in Shanghai. Interestingly, the final statement of the Shanghai summit explicitly stated that Iran and the P5+1 must comply with the JCPOA provisions. In other words, the government’s claim was that Shanghai could be a channel to bypass the JCPOA, but the members of this pact asked Iran to return to the JCPOA.
Achievements Cannot Be Reached Through Confrontation
Mehdi Zakerian, a university professor and international analyst, also told Faraz about the achievements of Raisi’s trip to New York, stating that in the past, Iran had achievements twice: once during Mr. Khatami’s trip, which led the UN to adopt a resolution named the Dialogue Among Civilizations, and that year was named after it, with even a delegation appointed by the UN Secretary-General for the Dialogue Among Civilizations. Another time was the adoption of Mr. Rouhani’s proposal named the World Against Violence and Extremism at the UN General Assembly.
He said, however, that there was no specific achievement from Raisi’s trip. The reason is that neither the government had a clear strategy for this trip, nor did we witness a proper understanding of developments and realities among Mr. Raisi’s associates. I think our foreign policy has distanced itself from the knowledge of international relations and international law norms. If you set your foreign policy based on the UN Charter, even if you want to achieve national interests with a realist approach, you will be more successful than with personal and individual interpretations.
According to Zakerian, if Khatami achieved something at the UN, it was because he did not confront the global system. You cannot say our policy is neither East nor West and then embrace China and Russia and want to benefit, and then go to the UN and say we are neither East nor West, while on the other hand, we are with China and Russia. With an ideological view, it is not possible to connect with the world.
Claims of Supporters
Seyed Ahmad Khatami stated that the enemies were trying to overshadow the successes of this government, and these riots were also aimed at affecting these successes, which the US President highlighted at the UN. The enemy was looking for an excuse, and since they couldn’t use the economic hardships to bring people to the streets, the issue of Ms. Mahsa Amini arose to show the officials as untrustworthy to the people, which has been the common thread in all these seditions.
Zohreh Sadat Lajevardi, a representative from Tehran, said the enemy wanted to create chaos and conflict in the country to overshadow and sideline the president’s trip to New York and its achievements, but they were unsuccessful in this endeavor.
Lotfollah Siahkali, a representative from Qazvin, stated that one of the motivations for inciting these riots by anti-revolutionaries and opponents was to sideline the achievements of the presidential trip to the UN headquarters so that the key demands raised by the president at the UN General Assembly would not be heard.
Mohammad Reza Naseri Yazdi, the Friday prayer leader of Yazd, mentioned that Iran’s success in Shanghai and the president’s very good speeches at the UN, along with the country’s steadfastness in negotiations, led the enemy to use the death of a woman, which the government and judiciary are thoroughly investigating, as an excuse to create a new sedition and downplay all the recent successes of the regime.
Saed News stated that even if the death of the late Mahsa Amini had not occurred, domestic and foreign enemies would have supported any other topic that could be used as a pretext to attack the government and the regime. The official and permanent membership of Iran in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization
The presence of Ayatollah Seyed Ebrahim Raisi in Uzbekistan and the confirmation of Iran’s official membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which would be a major transformation in terms of economic, security, and political aspects for the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the dissemination of this news would have been very pleasant for the people. Unfortunately, with the news of Mahsa’s death being spread by opponents and uninformed people in the country, the main text was sidelined, and the news of Mahsa’s death became the main focus.