Iran’s dictator Khamenei hasn’t learned from Romania’s Ceaușescu
Ali Khamenei, the dictator ruling Iran, delivered a speech on Saturday, November 26, for a gathering of hand-picked members of the regime’s paramilitary Basij Force. This resembled the last speech of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu on December 20, 1989, following his return from Tehran.
One day later, Ceaușescu instructed his officials to organize a rally for a major show of force by ordering a large number of government employees and workers to gather outside the Communist Party Central Committee building in support of his dictatorship. They were able to muster a large crowd under strict orders and directives.
Ceaușescu’s speech in this gathering, airing live on state TV, consisted of the all too familiar dictatorial rhetoric of describing Romania’s domestic protests as measures by foreigners and fascists.
In the middle of his speech a number of “foreign agents” (as Khamenei describes Iranian protesters these days) began booing Ceaușescu and shouting slogans protesting his rule. State media immediately cut-off its live broadcast while Ceaușescu, obviously terrified, began ordering the protesters to remain silent. However, it was all too late.
Ceaușescu’s intended show of force quickly turned into an anti-regime rally and a significant sign of his decaying rule. The Romanian dictator ordered for an all-out crackdown by his forces, only to see military units refusing to open fire on the people and abandoned their forts.
One day later protesters stormed the Communist Party Central Committee building, forcing Ceaușescu to flee from the rooftop with a helicopter. A few hours later, however, he was arrested and transferred to the military. On December 25, Ceaușescu and his wife were sentenced to death and executed.
Thirty-three years down the road, Khamenei should be reflecting on the astonishing symmetry between the Iran of 2022 and Romania of 1989. Corruption is running wild in the Iranian regime, as was witnessed in Romania under Ceaușescu. During the 1980s, the Romanian economy was going bankrupt, millions were hungry and standing in food lines, and energy was rationed. The regime’s securitate agents, however, controlled foreign trade, smuggling, and hard currency.
For those familiar with the status quo in Iran, this strikes a very strikes a very startling resemblance. Tens of millions of Iranians are living in poverty, the regime is constantly raising the prices of energy, and the IRGC are in control of nearly half of the country’s economy.
While Ceaușescu was able was able to force a large number of people to attend the gathering outside the Communist Party Central Committee building, Khamenei lacks such power. Considering the ongoing protests that are being described by people in Iran as a “revolution,” the dictator in Iran and his regime were forced to gather a small number of hand-picked members of the paramilitary Basij, associated to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). Khamenei’s hypocrisy didn’t end here as he went on to claim that the Basij has “millions of members” throughout all of Iran.
While Khamenei sought to voice threats to protesters in cities and towns checkered across Iran, the main purpose of his remarks—being the seventh speech since the beginning of the Iranian protests back in September—was to lift the spirits of his forces. The IRGC and Basij are being targeted at nights as attacks against their bases by protesters using Molotov cocktails has become a new norm in Iran.
Thousands of IRGC and Basij members are in the streets day in and day out and are witnessing up close the Iranian people’s growing hatred regarding the mullahs’ rule. This has forced Khamenei and other senior regime officials to focus their speeches on praising their efforts and lifting their crippled morale.
Regime officials and their inner circles know very well there is no truth in the regime enjoying the support of millions. Khamenei referred to the funeral of former IRGC Quds Force chief Qassem Soleimani as evidence of the regime’s “popular support” among the Iranian people. This claim was debunked back in 2020 citing open-source information and convinces no one.
The question is if Khamenei and his regime enjoy support from “millions” of Iranians as members of the Basij and so forth, why has he focused all of his last seven speeches in the past 73 days on remarks that resemble nothing but a man desperate to keep a straight face while crises continue to mushroom all around him? And why did he warn of the “enemy” infiltrating the Basij’s ranks and files?
This piece is no argument that the Romanian scenario is about to be repeated in Iran. However, it is a known fact that dictators, when their days are numbered, resort to ridiculously desperate remarks and hypocrisy. This blinds them from seeing the reality on the ground, and only further pushes them into the abyss of their delusion and committing even more crimes. Measures that will only accelerate their downfall.
