Iran's Top Officials Accused of Staging 'Soft Coup' After US Ceasefire Deal

As Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian walked alongside the coffin of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in Tehran last week, some of the black-clad mourners surrounding him chanted not in tribute to the late leader, but directly at him — “death to the compromiser”, CNN reported. Not far from the funeral site, Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s top diplomat who negotiated a ceasefire with the Trump administration and helped secure limited sanctions relief for the Islamic Republic, was forced to flee after a mob pelted him with rocks while chanting that he was a “traitorous sellout.” According to CNN, the hostility directed at Iran’s top officials reflects a theory that has been gaining traction within the Islamic Republic’s most radical factions for months: that the country’s wartime leaders who negotiated and signed the agreement with Washington are staging a “soft coup” against the Islamic Republic and its revolutionary ideals while the new supreme leader remains largely invisible for fear of his life — or, as some have suggested, because he is incapacitated. The hardline factions believe that instead of avenging Khamenei’s killing, Iranian officials surrendered by signing an agreement that defies the orders of Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, the late leader’s son and successor. But Mojtaba Khamenei has remained hidden from public view, neither addressing the nation directly nor visibly asserting his authority, even as officials negotiate or govern in his name. Opposition to the agreement with Washington predates Khamenei’s funeral. According to The Guardian, hardline members of Iran’s Paydari (Endurance) Front, conservative lawmakers and influential commentators had mounted a campaign against the proposed deal, arguing that it did not guarantee sanctions relief, compensation or sufficient control over the Strait of Hormuz. “The fact that they say we won and America has retreated is a blatant lie,” hardline MP Kamran Ghazanfari was quoted by The Guardian as saying. Meysam Nili, managing director of Rajanews and brother-in-law of former president Ebrahim Raisi, described the proposed agreement as “a catastrophic capitulation” and urged Iranians “not to sit quietly,” according to the newspaper. The Guardian also reported that opponents staged protests outside Iran’s Foreign Ministry and launched a “we will not accept” campaign against the agreement, while supporters argued that most Iranians backed efforts to end the war. According to CNN, hardliners have accused Iran’s visible leadership, those running and representing the country as Mojtaba Khamenei remains out of public view, of plotting to consolidate power by suspending parliament, defying the supreme leader’s orders in negotiations and attempting to disperse the nightly street rallies that had become a power base for fundamentalists. “Warning to the people of Iran: Is a coup on the way??” hardline lawmaker Mahmoud Nabavian wrote on X days before Khamenei’s funeral. Days later, he added, “In these moments of farewell to the martyred Imam (Khamenei), we raise the banner of vengeance for his blood and stand firm against the coup.” In Mojtaba Khamenei’s absence, chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Pezeshkian and Araghchi have become the most visible faces leading post-war Iran. Without access to the new supreme leader, hardliners unhappy with their performance have instead accused them of plotting a coup, Arash Azizi, a US-based Iran expert and author of What Iranians Want, told CNN. “Mojtaba’s continued absence means that they don’t have access to him and also that Ghalibaf and allies are effectively in charge of the country… the ultra-hardliners have thus accused Ghalibaf and Pezeshkian of plotting a ‘coup’ against Mojtaba,” Azizi said. One of the biggest points of contention is the future of the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic shipping route. The Guardian reported that critics argued that reopening the waterway would surrender one of Iran’s strongest bargaining tools after months of conflict. They also maintained that the agreement failed to guarantee meaningful sanctions relief or compensation. In an open letter cited by The Guardian, Hossein Shariatmadari, editor of the hardline newspaper Kayhan, questioned why Tehran would give up what he described as “one of our country’s main levers” by reopening the strait. Iranian officials have strongly defended the agreement. According to The Guardian, Mehdi Mohammadi, an adviser to Parliament Speaker and chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said critics were relying on outdated drafts of the agreement. Mohammadi said the proposed deal would end the war, eventually lead to sanctions relief and allow Iran and Oman to regulate shipping through the Strait of Hormuz under what he described as “Iranian arrangements.” He also argued that the agreement did not require Iran to make new commitments on its nuclear programme beyond its longstanding position that it would not build nuclear weapons. Even before hostilities resumed, hardliners had turned their fury on officials who negotiated with Washington. According to CNN, Mohammad Ali Bakhshi, a security-linked Maddah loyal to the Iranian regime, warned Pezeshkian during a ceremony: “Mr President, if the leader’s conditions are not fulfilled, then it will be us, the blade and your throat.” He added, “We will bring hell upon you.” CNN reported that although the threat drew widespread criticism, Bakhshi is not known to have faced legal repercussions.