In the turmoil, it was necessary to fix the line of the regime, a hard line. For Ali Khamenei, the time is not for national reconciliation but for the consolidation of its base, the most fervent supporters of the Islamic Republic. Friday, January 17, the Guide to the Iranian Revolution wanted to be adamant.
After the assassination of Ghassem Soleimani, the Iranian missile strikes on American military installations in Iraq and the crash of the Ukrainian Airlines Boeing shot down by the Iranian air defense, the head of the Islamic Republic had decided to conduct the Friday prayer for the first time since 2012. The exceptional measure gave the guide an opportunity to announce, in times of crisis, the directions of the plan. Perched on a balcony facing hundreds of religious, military and civil dignitaries of the Islamic Republic, a sniper rifle posed as is the practice against his desk, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei tried to regain control of the official story .
"The past two weeks have been marked by bitter or less bitter events, said Ali Khamenei. The day when millions of Iranians and tens of thousands of Iraqis took to the streets to say goodbye to the great commander was a day marked by the will of God. This desire was also expressed the day the missiles of the Revolutionary Guards hit the American base. "
American interests targeted
The staging of national unity during the funeral of General Soleimani, then the triumphalism which accompanied the first Iranian military operation directly directed against American targets had however been cut in their impetus by the indignation aroused by the initial official lies on the air disaster of January 8. Ali Khamenei appeared to want to erase him from history with his 176 victims. The guide did not return to the responsibilities of the regime, contenting himself with expressing his personal sorrow by calling on the Iranians not to turn away from the only mourning that really matters – that of General Soleimani – and the only significant event of the past weeks. , the successful attack on American interests.
"Khamenei has not presented any reform. Purposely. The credibility crisis that the Islamic Republic has been going through since the November demonstrations and their hundreds of victims, killed by the repression, and deepened by the crash is secondary to him ”, Clément Therme, Iran specialist at Sciences Po's Center for International Relations, notes: It must first respond to the legitimacy crisis by strengthening its supporters with the traditional fuel of the regime: anti-Americanism. "
