Iran's political opponents slam Raisi's government as ‘worst and weakest in 80 years’

In a staunch attack against the Shiite cleric regime, Iranian politician Hojjat Mirzaei, a former economic official, on Monday said that President Ebrahim Raisi's administration is "the weakest of its kind in the past 80 years." 

Mirzaei alleged that Raisi's government's dreams of making "a paradise" with reliance on China and Russia as its ally, adding that it will turn out to be an "illusion." He derided Supreme Leader Khamenei's Looking East policy and Iran's cooperation with China and Russia, saying that it will not seal the promising future for Iran, according to Iran's Khabar Online. 

'Worst and the weakest government': Critics 

The Iranian outlet also quoted the reformist cleric Mohammad Ashrafi Esfahani, and conservative commentator Mohammad Mohajeri as labelling Raisi's government "the worst and the weakest government in Iran's history." This view, reported the outlet, is shared by most Islamic Republic political factions. Esfahani blamed Raisi's administration for the political unrest, saying that citizens are in desperation "as they have lost their hopes of a better future because of the poor performance of the Raisi administration." 

"It is obvious that the people's financial situation will worsen, and their hopes will fade away when the government replaces experienced officials with those who have no outstanding background or experience," said reformist cleric Mohammad Ashrafi Esfahani. 

In his harshest attack against the Iranian government yet, former Interior Minister Abdollah Nouri stated that the Islamic Republic has "reached a dead-end." He noted that most of all decisions were being made by only the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei have caused the impasse in the parliament and anger among the Iranians.

"No one listens to the majority of Iranians," he asserted. politicians also noted that Raisi has been unable to fulfil his promises such as strengthening the currency rial. Instead, they stressed, it has depreciated even more since his 16 months in power by more than 50 per cent. The Iranian government has failed to control financial corruption, they furthermore stressed. Iranian economist Hossein Raghfar blamed the failures on the regime's aim of protecting the oligarchy of its rich insiders in an interview with the Rouydad24 website.

"If the government takes this challenge seriously, it should know that there is no way out of this crisis other than pushing [oligarchies] out of the country's economy," Raghfar said. "The main player…is the government itself as it takes measures to cope with its budget deficit."