Hardliners warn of Iran coup as US ceasefire collapses
Iranian hardliners are accusing President Masoud Pezeshkian and other visible leaders of staging a soft Iran coup while Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei stays out of public view. The claims surged after Ali Khamenei’s funeral and as a fragile US ceasefire came under pressure from Revolutionary Guard attacks and US retaliation.
Key Takeaways
- Hardliners claim Pezeshkian, Ghalibaf and Araghchi are consolidating power amid Mojtaba Khamenei’s absence.
- Funeral mourners chanted “death to the compromiser” and pelted Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi with rocks.
- A US–Iran truce nearly collapsed after IRGC attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and US strikes.
- Hardline lawmaker Mahmoud Nabavian was removed from parliament’s National Security Commission.
What sparked the Iran coup warnings?
According to CNN reporting, hostility at Ali Khamenei’s funeral exposed a radical theory: that wartime leaders who negotiated with Washington are staging a soft coup against revolutionary ideals while the new supreme leader remains largely invisible.
As Pezeshkian walked beside the coffin, some mourners chanted “death to the compromiser.” Araghchi, who negotiated a ceasefire with the Trump administration and helped lift some sanctions, fled after a mob threw rocks and called him a “traitorous sellout.”
Hardliners argue officials surrendered instead of avenging Khamenei’s killing in late February US–Israeli airstrikes, and that they defy orders from successor Mojtaba Khamenei.
Why does Mojtaba Khamenei’s absence matter?
Mojtaba Khamenei has not addressed the nation or visibly asserted authority, even as officials negotiate or govern in his name. In that vacuum, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Pezeshkian and Araghchi have become Iran’s most visible postwar faces.
US-based Iran expert Arash Azizi told CNN that ultra-hardliners accuse Ghalibaf and Pezeshkian of plotting a “coup” against Mojtaba because they lack access to him and see Ghalibaf’s allies effectively running the country.
Lawmaker Mahmoud Nabavian posted on X before the funeral: “Warning to the people of Iran: Is a coup on the way??” Days later he vowed to “stand firm against the coup.” Colleague Kamran Ghazanfari alleged a “political coup” elevating the Supreme Council for National Security while diminishing the supreme leader and parliament.
How is the US truce collapsing under hardline pressure?
A fragile ceasefire with the United States all but collapsed after the Revolutionary Guards attacked shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, prompting US retaliatory strikes and fresh hardline demands to scrap the deal.
Before fighting resumed, security-linked religious singer Mohammad Ali Bakhshi warned Pezeshkian: if the leader’s conditions are unmet, “it will be us, the blade and your throat.” Critics blasted the threat; no legal repercussions have been reported.
On Tuesday, Nabavian—once on Iran’s negotiating team, later a fierce critic who allegedly leaked draft text—was removed from the National Security Commission with another deal opponent. Fellow Hamidreza Azizi said Ghalibaf is sidelining hardliners who are “too costly for the system.”
Observers still say Tehran’s core goal is ending the war with sanctions relief and Hormuz control, even as hardliners push renewed conflict. Follow related global power shifts on BlasterPost’s Future Tech & AI Wonders coverage.