“Why is the opposition incapable of finding a leader,” columnist Ali Alavi rhetorically asked in Javan newspaper, a mouthpiece of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and found the answer in the opposition’s “lack of ideology and strategy.” The opposition to the Islamic Republic indeed lacks leadership, organization, funding, and a shared vision for post-Islamic Republic Iran. Revolutions, however, give birth to their leaders. Rather than the self-declared or assumed leadership candidates, whose shortcomings Alavi derides in the article, the IRGC ought to be concerned about Iran’s teenage revolutionaries, whose political views were shaped by street protests. 

• January 27: “Why is the opposition incapable of finding a leader …? Take Hamed Esmaeilion, whose identity and advantage are based on losing his family in the Ukrainian flight incident,” he wrote, referencing Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, which was shot down by the IRGC on January 8, 2020 shortly after takeoff killing 176 passengers and crew members on board. “When Iran International TV asked him about returning to Iran to lead the movement, he was confused … and passively said ‘I’m not crazy to return to Iran,’ yet added: ‘Perhaps I will scream all the way from Azadi Square to Enqelab Square.’” Alavi also dismissed the viability of an opposition leadership council composed of the former crown prince of Iran, Reza Pahlavi, activist Masih Alinejad, actor Golshifteh Farahani, soccer star Ali Karimi, and others, and questioned the ability of Pahlavi to lead the opposition. Alavi concluded: “This nation changed after the mayhem of the autumn, when the foreign plots against it became clearer.”