Who Can Solve Iran’s Many Problems? Not I, Says the President.

NY Times Dec18th2025

By Farnaz Fassihi and Leily Nikounazar

President Masoud Pezeshkian of Iran’s first year in office has been described as an annus horribilis. There were the assassinations of allies and top commanders, the airstrikes by Israel and the United States, and the destruction of nuclear facilities, not to mention the foundering economy that worsens by the day and the rolling energy and water shortages.

But if Iranians thought to look to the president for solutions, he would be the first to say don’t bother.

In a series of remarkably candid public speeches recently, Mr. Pezeshkian has said that Iran is facing insurmountable problems and that he is out of ideas to fix them.

“If someone can do something, by all means go for it,” Mr. Pezeshkian told university students and academics in early December. “I can’t do anything; don’t curse me.”

In meetings with officials, he has acknowledged the government is “stuck, really badly stuck.” He has added, “From the first day we came, catastrophes are raining down, and it hasn’t stopped.”

He has gone as far as to say that Iran’s problems are self-made — a result of corruption, factional infighting and decades of government spending practices that he described as “what crazy people do” — and not the fault of the United States or Israel.

“The problem is us,” he has said in several meetings, including the one with students.

This month, Mr. Pezeshkian told provincial governors and local officials to imagine the central government “did not exist” and “solve your problems yourselves.”

“Why should I solve them?” he said. “You shouldn’t think that the president can make miracles happen.”

Videos of the speeches have gone viral online and in Iranian news media. “Pezeshkian is not ruling the government; he has pressed autopilot and let go,” Ali Zia, a prominent television personality and anchor, said on Tuesday in a video posted on social media. “This is how the public feels.”

Some of Mr. Pezeshkian’s allies and rivals alike have privately expressed disdain for his running commentary, saying it makes the government look weak and incompetent at a pivotal time for the country, according to two Iranian officials who work in his government and two members of the rival conservative faction. All four insisted on not being named because they were discussing sensitive issues.

In Iran’s political structure, the president can influence foreign and domestic policies somewhat, but the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 86, has the final say in all major state matters. Former presidents seldom admitted to being hampered by the system.

Not Mr. Pezeshkian. He appears to have no qualms about saying out loud that he is subservient to Mr. Khamenei on contentious foreign policy issues such as resolving the nuclear standoff with the United States. He has also said publicly that he hasn’t been allowed to lift restrictions on popular social media applications such as Instagram, which Iranians now can get access to through virtual private networks, as he promised to do.