Iranian politicians, including potential presidential candidates, are increasingly emigrating from other social media platforms to Clubhouse ahead of June’s presidential election. With a ban on campaign meetings due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and given the increasing use of social media in elections globally, Clubhouse has the potential to play a role though it is restricted to those with iPhones. The number of Iranians who own iPhones is estimated at between 10 to 15 percent of all mobile phone users.

According to Iranian media, the record attendance in any Persian-language Clubhouse session came with 8,000 participants in a question-and-answer session on April 1 with  Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in the Clubhouse “room” of reformist journalist Farid Modarresi.  Zarif discussed Iran’s 25-year Strategic Cooperation Pact with China and its relations with the West, while also denying he would stand in the presidential election.

One of the first ministers to join Clubhouse was Communications and Information Technology Minister Mohammad-Javad Azari-Jahromi, who advocates free access to social-media platforms and who was sued by Prosecutor-General Mohammad-Jafar Montazeri in January for ignoring judicial orders aimed at restricting social media. Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh and nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi also use Clubhouse to connect with the public.

There is concern among some principlists that their rivals could steal a march, with Clubhouse replicating the role Telegram apparently played in both the 2016 parliamentary elections and the 2017 presidential election, when extensively used both by President Hassan Rouhani and his main challenger Ebrahim Raeesi.

"Presidential elections are usually the breeding ground of 'color revolutions,'” hardline activist and social-media expert Seyed-Alireza Al-e Davoud claimed in a recent article headlined ‘Emergence of Clubhouse Ahead of 1400 (June 2021) Elections.’ Davoud suggested that Twitter, Facebook and Google were “tools in the hands” of the Green movement in 2009, when supporters of defeated candidates Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi disputed the outcome of the presidential election.

"Distortionists," wrote Davoud, could use Clubhouse, Signal and other applications to “afflict the country with numerous security, social and political problems ahead of the [June] elections.” 

Other principlists, however, are keen to join the club. Former Revolutionary Guard and oil minister under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Rostam Ghasemi, a potential candidate in June, is a Clubhouse member.

One reason many consider Clubhouse a suitable platform for political discussions and campaigning is that its use audio rather than the written word is a challenge for organized trolls. Unlike Facebook and Twitter, Clubhouse is not as yet been filtered by the Iranian authorities.

Some Iranian media have already suggested that Clubhouse will act as an alternative to state broadcaster IRIB, which airs the main TV debates in presidential elections. Speaking to Tasnim News Agency on Friday, reformist journalist Modarresi said IRIB had failed to create provide equal opportunities for all political groups. "The only advantage of Clubhouse is that it has broken the monopoly of broadcast media such as the IRIB and satellite channels such as Manoto TV and Iran International," Modarresi said.

But Clubhouse has clear limitations. Modarresi conceded that it had a limit of 8,000 in any given "room" and requires an iPhone. Principlist social-media activist Mohammad-Saleh Meftah told Tasnim that Clubhouse’s drawbacks would not allow it to replace other social media platforms like Instagram, the only major social media application not nominally blocked.

In addition, Clubhouse can be joined only by invitation of existing members – even if, as Bahar News has reported, invitations were on sale in early April on Divar online shop for 3 million rials (around $12).

Launched in April 2020 and available only to iOS users - therefore requiring access to an iPhone – Clubhouse, which is owned by the United States-based Alpha Exploration,  has over 10 million users worldwide accessing clubs and virtual rooms discussing diverse topics. It is blocked in China, Oman, Jordan and elsewhere. Twitter has launched a rival to Clubhouse called Twitter Spaces, while Facebook and Telegram are working on their own models.