What are Iranian public figures saying about Assad’s fall?

Some of the more outspoken views about Assad, which could be seen as indirect criticism of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's policies, were conspicuously deleted after a few hours, possibly under pressure from authorities.

Khamenei has consistently praised Bashar al-Assad as a pivotal figure in the "Axis of Resistance" and has insisted on unwavering support for him against his opponents.

Conservative commentator Mohammad Mohajeri, tweeted Sunday, “In the last election, Bashar al-Assad had won 95 percent of the vote, but three years after that election, he fell from power without a single person from among ordinary people being willing to defend him." He later removed his post without an explanation.

Prominent commentator Sadegh Zibakalam, often labeled a reformist, reiterated his recent criticism of the Islamic Republic’s costly support for Bashar al-Assad in two tweets on Sunday.

Zibakalam, who has frequently condemned Iran's spending on arming and supporting groups like the Houthis and Hezbollah, as well as countries such as Venezuela, had also criticized the financial backing for Assad in a November 2023 interview.

In one of his tweets, Zibakalam who has also been very critical of Iran's costly nuclear program, said the Islamic Republic dedicated every possible assistance including the lives of its men to keep Assad in power but “never asked even once how this resistance leader treated his people.”

“Assad’s end was fortunate both for the Syrian people and Iranians. The people of Syria were saved from the suppressive rule of Baathists after half a century. The gain for the Iranians is that wastage of their country’s resources and throwing that into the bottomless well called Axis of Resistance to save a despotic and unpopular ruler ended,” he said in another post.

Zibakalam, who was imprisoned in May and later released for medical treatment, deleted his tweets after a few hours and made no further comments on Assad’s fall.

Parvaneh Salahshouri, a former reformist lawmaker and outspoken critic of the Islamic Republic’s policies, referred to Bashar al-Assad as a dictator in a brief post on X. “Assad’s destiny, the disgraceful fate of all dictators,” she wrote.

“The fate of over half a century of the Assad family dictatorship in Syria … must be a lesson for all authoritarian governments,” the former secretary general of the banned Freedom Movement of Iran Party, Mohammad Tavassoli, warned in an X post, adding that timely “return to the people” and giving them freedom and the power to exercise their wishes can “prevent such a costly process” as overthrowing the Assad family.

A similar view was expressed by Rahmatollah Bigdelli, a pro-Pezeshkian cleric and politician, who also in an X post said Assad’s fall should be a lesson for a government to surrender to the will of its people to stay immune to “internal and external threats”.

Assad’s reported $30 billion debt to Iran

In addition to deploying tens of thousands of fighters to support Bashar al-Assad’s forces against insurgents across Syria, the Islamic Republic provided his government with free oil and military equipment for years.

Iran's substantial support for Assad has contributed to sanctions being imposed on its prominent airline, Mahan Air, as well as the country's national carrier, Iran Air.

In May 2020, Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, then-chairman of the parliamentary National Security Council and Foreign Policy Committee, said Iran had spent between $20 to $30 billion to support Assad and demanded that the debt be paid back.

“Syria … Iranians must rejoice now. Nobody has the right to spend the nation’s dollars to preserve the spider’s web,” Falahatpisheh tweeted Sunday.

Falahatpishes, too, removed his tweet Monday and in another tweet said he still considers the Assad family a "spider's web". "That's why I spent a decade of my life to recover Syria's debts to Iran," he wrote, but added that he distinguishes between the Assad family and the "true and rightful resistance movement."

Many of those who commented on his tweet accused him of cowardice for backing from his original position under pressure. "Look out of the window, the black van [of the security forces] has left the alleyway. It is too obvious that they called you to direct you to the right path,” one of the comments said.

Similar concerns were voiced by Bahram Parsaei, a member of parliament until 2020, who also claimed the Assad government owed $30 billion to Iran. “What will happen to this huge sum of money now?” he asked in an X post. He pointed out that according to Article 80 of the Iranian Constitution, any non-refundable foreign loans should have been approved by the Parliament.