The former chief of Iran’s state Radio and TV says the current way of governance is “unsustainable” and the regime faces such “misery it cannot meet the smallest demands of the people.”

Mohammad Sarafraz said in a video message that “beating and killing [protesters] will not work and sooner or later it will reach a dead end, so this method must end.”

The comments by Sarafaraz, which can be interpreted as an unprecedented warning by an official appointed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, were made in a conversation with Shahrazad Mirqolikhan.

Mirqolikhan was arrested and imprisoned for five years in the US for trying to send military equipment to Iran.

After her release, she went to Oman and later became the public relations manager of Press TV, the English-language Iranian state TV channel, which was headed by Mohammad Sarfraz at the time.

In his unprecedented speech, Sarafraz warned Supreme Leader’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei saying “the method of putting pressure on people and not paying attention to their political and economic demands and their legitimate freedoms will not work.”

“I am in a situation that I know by making these remarks, anything may happen to me, so I have written my will,” added Sarafraz.