Iran’s Supreme Leader addresses an audience in Tehran, February 18, 2020

Three days before Iran’s Parliamentary elections, the Supreme Leader appeals again for a high turnout as a signal to the US and other “enemies”.

Ayatollah Khamenei used an address to visitors from East Azerbaijan Province on Tuesday for his call to Iranians: “I would like to tell you that voting is a public Jihad (struggle in the way of God).”

He proclaimed that “first-class idiots in the US are once again lining up to say some nonsense about [Iran]…to affect the elections…to make people despair of the ballot box”.

The Guardian Council, appointed by the Supreme Leader and the judiciary, has banned more than half of the 16,000 candidates for the February 21 vote. More than 90% of reformists — who, along with centrists, took the most seats in the 2016 Parliamentary ballot — have been blocked.

The move has almost ensured that conservatives and hardliners dominate the new Majlis. However, it also risks depressing turnout: amid long-standing economic problems, US sanctions, and protests, Iranians may not see the value in participating in an election whose result has been determined.

See also A Beginner’s Guide: The Guardian Council and Elections

Iran Daily, Feb 15: Can Regime Get Apathetic Public to Vote in Parliamentary Elections?

On February 5, Ayatollah Khamenei appealed, “Anyone who takes interest in the country, its security, the resolution of its problems, and the healthy turnover of elites should partake in the polls.”

Despite his objection to the Guardian Council’s mass ban of candidates, President Hassan Rouhani restated the message during last week’s ceremonies for the 41st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.

“America Will Sink”

Yesterday Khamenei tried to rally the audience by comparing the US to the British liner Titanic, sunk by an iceberg in the North Atlantic in 1912: “Just as the splendor of the famous ship Titanic did not stop it from sinking, attempts to make up America’s appearance do not stop it from sinking.”

He said the US had failed in its January 3 assassination of Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards, using the killing as another call for high turnout in Friday’s vote: ”

The enemies should see for themselves that, in spite of their persistence in attempting to drive a wedge between the people and the establishment, people receive the elections well, which is reason for pride for the Islamic establishment….

Elections neutralize many of the evil intentions that the Americans and the Zionists (Israelis) have in mind against Iran. These elections are the response to the chicanery and deception of Iran’s enemies.

The Supreme Leader ridiculed Washington’s military forces, “If something happens one day, these bases will be of use neither to America nor to those who give their money to it…because American arrogance is collapsing.”

But Khamenei implicitly acknowledged Iran’s economic problems, amid long-term internal issues and US sanctions:

Iran has lost between 80% and 95% of its oil exports, with a serious effect on the Government budget. Production, employment, trade, and investment have been hindered, and the currency is at a historically-low level.

In November, the regime had to suppress mass protests after the Government suddenly increased petrol prices by 50% to 200%.

At least 304 demonstrators were killed by security forces, according to Amnesty International. Iranian Interior Ministry officials told Reuters that 1,500 people — protesters, security personnel, and bystanders — were slain.