Iran War Leadership Rift Exposed As Guards Keep Striking Arab Neighbors

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards started launching attacks against the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, and the Iraqi Kurdistan shortly after President Pezeshkian said in a televised speech he had instructed them to halt such attacks.

The IRGC strikes followed unusually sharp verbal attacks by hardliners which highlighted the limited influence Pezeshkian exercises within Iran’s power structure despite his membership in the temporary three-member leadership council that is currently exercising powers normally held by the country’s supreme leader in wartime.

Pezeshkian said on Saturday that Iran’s armed forces had sometimes acted “at their own discretion” during the recent conflict. He added that, following a decision by the “temporary leadership council,” military forces had now been instructed not to attack neighboring countries “unless they intend to attack us from that country.”

The first institutional response came from the spokesman of Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, the body that coordinates operational command of Iran’s armed forces, including both the regular army and the IRGC.

The spokesman declared that any location used to launch attacks against Iran would be considered a legitimate target. “Every point that serves as the origin of aggression against Iran is a legitimate target,” he said, adding that with the continuation of offensive operations, “all military bases and interests” of the US and Israel in the region would remain the “main targets” of IRGC attacks.

Within hours, the IRGC also announced missile strikes on Dubai Airport and Juffair Base in Bahrain, which hosts the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet headquarters.

However, judiciary chief Gholam‑Hossein Mohseni‑Ejei, who also serves on the three-member leadership council, responded quickly. He said evidence from Iranian armed forces showed that “the geography of some regional countries has openly and covertly been placed at the disposal of the enemy” and used for attacks on Iran.

He added that “intense attacks” on such targets would continue and stressed that “this strategy is currently being implemented and the government and other pillars of the system are united on this matter.”

Factors behind the apology

Saudi Arabia on Saturday warned Iran that continued attacks on the kingdom and ​its energy sector could push Riyadh to respond in kind, Reuters reported citing four sources familiar with the matter.

The message was conveyed before Pezeshkian’s televised apology, according to Reuters.

Another factor behind Pezeshkian’s apology may have been reports of a drone attack Thursday in the Nakhchivan autonomous region of Azerbaijan, which maintains extensive military cooperation with Israel.

Iran has denied involvement. However, officials in Baku also said they had also foiled several alleged sabotage plots attributed to the IRGC, including a plot targeting the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline.

Following the incident, Azerbaijan ordered the immediate withdrawal of its diplomats from Tehran and Tabriz, closed its border with Iran, and demanded an apology.

In a separate incident earlier this week, Iran’s armed forces denied firing a ballistic missile toward Turkish airspace, which Turkish authorities said was intercepted by NATO air and missile defense systems over the eastern Mediterranean.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Ankara had issued “warnings in the clearest terms” to prevent similar incidents from recurring.

According to analyst Abdolreza Davari, who defended Pezeshkian’s stance, escalating tensions with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) could be very costly to Iran’s external economy which depends heavily on financial and trade channels through the United Arab Emirates.

The UAE has warned it could move to seize Iranian state-linked assets within its jurisdiction if tensions escalate further, according to regional analysts and officials familiar with the dispute.

Hardline backlash and possible moves to limit Pezeshkian’s authority

Some political figures defended Pezeshkian. Davari said the president was simply conveying a decision by the temporary leadership council to halt attacks on neighboring states. He argued that until a new supreme leader is chosen, council decisions carry the authority of the supreme leader and must be implemented.

Hardline critics, however, reacted harshly to the president’s remarks. Former lawmaker Jalal Rashidi Kouchi wrote on X: “An apology is made when a mistake has occurred, whether intentionally or unintentionally. We made no mistake. Your message showed no sign of authority.”

The conservative website Raja News described Pezeshkian as “an irritant to a nation ready for the final confrontation with arrogance” and called for preventing him from sending what it called “signals of weakness.”

The article also warned that Pezeshkian’s description of military strikes as “at their own discretion” could provide justification for neighboring states or international institutions to challenge what it called Iran’s “legitimate and sovereign defense.”

Hardline member of parliament Hamid Rasaei wrote on X that Pezeshkian’s comments were unacceptable, arguing that countries hosting US bases should be the ones apologizing. “The armed forces know their duty well and, as before, will target with powerful missiles wherever the Iranian nation and homeland are attacked. The firm demand of the Iranian people is exactly this.”

Several lawmakers, including Hamed Yazdian and Mohammad Mannan Raisi, urged the Assembly of Experts to quickly appoint a new supreme leader, arguing that statements like Pezeshkian’s risk placing Iran in a position of weakness.

Tehran representative Kamran Ghazanfari also threatened to pursue a parliamentary motion declaring the president politically incompetent — a process that would require signatures from one-third of lawmakers and a two-thirds vote to remove him.

—Iran International