Iran Hardliners Allege ‘Coup’ As US Ceasefire Faces Pushback

Tensions inside Iran have spiked in the wake of the US-brokered truce, with radical factions now accusing the country’s top leadership of a “soft coup” against the Islamic Republic’s revolutionary principles.

Hostility At Khamenei’s Funeral

Last week in Tehran, President Masoud Pezeshkian walked beside the coffin of late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. But instead of mourning chants, some in the crowd shouted “death to the compromiser” at Pezeshkian.

Nearby, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi — who negotiated the ceasefire with the Trump administration and secured partial sanctions relief — was reportedly forced to leave the funeral after being pelted with stones. Protesters called him a “traitorous sellout.”

What Hardliners Are Claiming

Radical groups argue that wartime leaders who signed the deal with Washington have betrayed the system. Their main target: the absence of new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, son of Ali Khamenei.

Mojtaba has not appeared in public or addressed the nation since taking over. Hardliners say his silence has created a power vacuum, allowing figures like Pezeshkian, Araghchi, and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf to run the country without his direct authority.

They accuse the trio of:

• Negotiating against the Supreme Leader’s directives 
• Suspending parliament 
• Trying to break up nightly pro-revolution street rallies that serve as a base for hardline support

Radical MP Mahmoud Nabavian posted on X before the funeral: “Warning to the people of Iran: Is a coup on the way??” After the funeral he wrote: “We raise the banner of vengeance for his blood and stand firm against the coup.”