U.S. President Donald Trump is under extreme pressure to find an off-ramp for his war on Iran. Between the global surge in energy prices, NATO allies condemning the attacks (and some calling them illegal), the split in his MAGA base at home, and the growing number of U.S. casualties, the conflict is spiraling into a disaster.

Yet, as welcome as it would be to many, a sudden end to the conflict would leave dissidents and minorities inside Iran facing an uncertain and, in many cases, terrifying immediate future.

U.S. President Donald Trump is under extreme pressure to find an off-ramp for his war on Iran. Between the global surge in energy prices, NATO allies condemning the attacks (and some calling them illegal), the split in his MAGA base at home, and the growing number of U.S. casualties, the conflict is spiraling into a disaster.

Yet, as welcome as it would be to many, a sudden end to the conflict would leave dissidents and minorities inside Iran facing an uncertain and, in many cases, terrifying immediate future.

Consider the situation as it stands, were the war to end. The United States and Israel have taken out Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the command structure of a brutal, repressive, and violent regime. In doing so, they revealed that the United States and its regional allies—many of which Iran’s leaders despise and would like to see destroyed—had severely compromised the security of the regime’s leadership.

But the regime itself has not fallen. It has instead been replaced by a severely weakened and embarrassed successor that will be baying for blood. The new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is the son of the leader who was killed by an Israeli airstrike on Feb. 28.

Experts and advocates fear that, as in the past, the targets will not be geopolitical adversaries or regional........

© Foreign Policy