Jafar Panahi says Khamenei regime cannot sustain control in Iran

Jafar Panahi, one of Iran’s leading film-makers, told the Guardian from the US that he believes the regime led by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will not be able to maintain control over Iranian society after the violent suppression of the latest protests. "It is impossible for this government to sustain itself in this situation," Panahi said, adding: "They know it too.

They know that it will be impossible to rule over people. Perhaps their only goal right now is to bring the country to the verge of complete collapse and try to destroy it." He said protests driven by an ailing economy have swept Iran since late December and were met by deadly crackdowns that, the Guardian reports, left more than 2,500 people killed.

An internet blackout that blocked 95–99% of the country’s communications was, Panahi said, "a sign that there would be a very big massacre on the way", though he said he did not predict the full dimensions of the crackdown. Panahi, who is promoting his film It Was Just an Accident in the US, said the partly revenge thriller and partly black comedy—winner of last year’s Palme d’Or and a contender for the 2026 Academy award in the international feature category—depicts how cycles of violence grow harder to stop.

In December he was handed a one-year prison sentence in absentia on charges of creating propaganda against the political system; he has said he intends to return to Iran.

Key Topics

Politics, Jafar Panahi, Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Protests, Internet Blackout