The story has always been the same: during the last decades, since the beginning of the Islamic Republic in 1979, Iran It has regularly experienced periods of riots and protests. The biggest ones occurred in 1999, 2009, 2017, 2022 and, of course, today, which represents probably the biggest – and most difficult – internal challenge of the Iranian regime during its more than four decades of history.
But all these protest movements have always suffered from the same drawback: the lack of leadership and organization. Many experts, in fact, attribute the failure of the constant and almost annual outbursts of protests to the lack of direction and concrete proposals, and to an opposition that, especially exiled abroad, coexists facing each otherafter decades of government repression both internally and in exile. Who is who, therefore, within the opposition movement in Iran?
1.Reza Pahlavi and the monarchists
If anyone, so far, has managed to establish themselves as a kind of director and encourager of this latest wave of protests – although it has been added to them after the fact – this is undoubtedly Reza Pahlavison of the last Shah of Persia and a controversial figure within the Iranian opposition movement.
He and his monarchist followers, especially Iranian far-right in exile, have been characterized in recent decades by being an intransigent group with little political coherence, critical of any opposition that does not adhere to a line and leader, which on occasions has defended a return to the monarchy in Iran and, on others, a parliamentary democracy.
Pahlaví barely had any followers two weeks ago in his own country, a place he left in 1978, when he was 17 years. Now, however, faced with the enormous weakness of the Islamic Republic regime, the man has achieved a renewed popularityespecially for being one of the few visible faces of the opposition and also having Israel y USA behind.
2.The punished internal dissidence
This group is the only one of the entire opposition that, punished, bruised, persecuted, detained and imprisoned, has maintained its opposition within the borders of Iran, with all the consequences that this entails. Its most visible faces are probably the Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadior the film director Jafar Panahiamong others.
All of them are routinely monitored, locked up and released by the Islamic Republic, which constantly opens legal proceedings against these activists to withdraw their passports and, thus, prohibit them from leaving the country. But Mohammadi and Panahi are just some of the best-known names abroad: dozens of activists inside Iran, and women across the country, especially following the 2022 wave of protests in ‘Woman, life and Freedom’, They have been facing the brutal regime of the Ayatollah for years, Ali Jameneí.
3.Activists in exile
Much of the Iranian opposition, however, has managed to leave the country, like a huge part of the Persian population. Many of them are activists, human rights lawyers, journalists, historians and political scientistsboth liberal and left-wing and, some, monarchists.
Among them are the lawyer Ebadi programNobel Peace Prize winner 2003the former professional footballer Ali Karimi and the feminist activist Masih Alinejadresident in the US and threatened with death by the Islamic Republic, which even directly attempted kidnap and murder her on US territory.
4.Minorities in Iran
Iran is a country with a Shiite majority and with a 60% Persian population. The remaining 40% is made up, above all, of Azeris —also Shiites— and Kurds and Balochis. These last two groups, historically, have always been a focus of resistance and protest against the Islamic Republic.
During previous waves of protests – especially in 2022 in the Kurdish regions – Iran has always repressed these minorities much more harshly than in the country’s large cities. Mahsa Aminíthe young woman whose murder sparked the demonstrations three years ago, was in fact of Kurdish origin.
5.The People’s Mujahideen
Los People’s Muhahideen (MEKin Persian) are a historic guerrilla supposedly leftist which was born in the 1970s and gained prominence with bomb attacks against the forces of the last shah, Mohammed Reza Pahlaviand his secret police, the feared ACIDS.
When the Islamic revolution triumphed in 1979, the group declared war against the new government, and in fact sided with it. Irak y Saddam Hussein in the war between the two countries between 1980 y 1988something that even the greatest detractors and opponents of the ayatollah regime do not forgive.
Today, the MEK is more like a personality cult of their leader, Maryam Rajavithan to a truly leftist organization, and the group is known in the West for having paid European and American politicians for advertising. In SpainIn fact, the MEK financed 80% of the campaign Vox for the 2014 european electionsand made the then head of the ultra party list in the European Parliament, Alejo Vidal-Quadrasin “his man in Brussels”.
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