A confidential report prepared for Iran's presidency has raised questions about the regime's stability, revealing unprecedented public dissatisfaction. The document, titled 'What Iran Wants,' found that only 9% of respondents supported maintaining the status quo, while 53% called for fundamental or structural reforms and 19% favored changing the political system outright. Combined, nearly three-quarters of those surveyed supported either deep structural reform or replacement of the existing system.
The report, obtained by IranWire, was compiled by Ali Rabiei, President Masoud Pezeshkian's social adviser and a former government spokesman. It was based on polling conducted by the Ara Opinion Research Center in May 2026 and circulated among institutions within Iran's governing structure in June.
Miad Maleki, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital that the report should prompt a fresh assessment of the potential for political upheaval inside Iran. He noted that the survey understates the depth of Iranians' rage, with 63% expressing anger, 81% struggling to put food on the table, and a majority expressing hopelessness.
The findings suggest that Iran's political crisis has moved beyond dissatisfaction with individual leaders or policies, potentially signaling a broader systemic challenge to the regime.