When politics collapses into a full‑fledged state of isolation, fragile states begin inventing projects that exist only on paper—or in hurried phone calls. This is precisely what Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian did when he proposed to Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid the creation of a “regional union” to promote development and stability during a phone conversation, even as Iran reels under American strikes.

A union? Regional? Development?

In the Iranian context, these words sound exactly like a drowning man proposing the creation of a swimming club.

And Pezeshkian—whose presidency amounts to little more than a bureaucratic chair under the ceiling of the IRGC—did not specify which countries would be invited to this union. Naturally so. Who would accept in the first place?

What “region” is Iran talking about while it fires missiles at its neighbors and wages a shadow war with the United States and Israel?

Any Arab state would look at this proposal the way a doctor looks at a prescription written by a delirious patient: meaningless words with no connection to reality.

Iran today is at its weakest point: a collapsing economy, deep international isolation, eroding influence, and proxies that have lost their ability to set the tempo. And yet, it proposes a “regional union.”

Iran today is at its weakest point: a collapsing economy, deep international isolation, eroding influence, and proxies that have lost their ability to set the tempo. And yet, it proposes a “regional union.”

It is like trying to sell a ticket for a ship that sank years ago.

The truth is that Iran no longer has any strategic depth outside its borders except for an Iraq dominated by its militias and parties—the last wall Tehran leans on as it crumbles. That is why it wants to turn Iraq into a “regional union”… which is simply a larger cage.

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This proposed union is held together by nothing: no vision, no economy, no shared interests, not even a convincing illusion.

It is merely an attempt to wrap Iran’s isolation in political gift paper, an effort to convince itself that the project of regional hegemony is not dead, even though its stench fills the entire region.

It is a proposal made at the wrong time, directed at the wrong partner, and built on a fantasy that cannot stand even in the imagination of a writer of absurd fiction.

A union with no members, no anchors, and no added value—except that it exposes the scale of Iran’s predicament.

Iran no longer produces policies; it produces excuses.

It no longer proposes projects; it sends distress signals.

And this so‑called “regional union” is not a project at all—it is an official admission that Tehran has become so isolated that it now proposes a union no one wants to be part of.

In truth, Pezeshkian’s proposal does not require critique as much as it requires a death certificate. The idea was stillborn, built on the assumption that Iran still possesses the weight to shape regional frameworks.

In truth, Pezeshkian’s proposal does not require critique as much as it requires a death certificate. The idea was stillborn, built on the assumption that Iran still possesses the weight to shape regional frameworks.

Reality says otherwise: Tehran can barely manage its internal crises and its ongoing conflicts—so how can it lead a union?

It is like trying to build a bridge over thin air.

A union with no economy, no trust, no allies, and no state willing to sign a document drafted by a country suffocating in political isolation.

It is a project that collapses not upon implementation, but upon reading.

More dangerous than the idea itself is Iran’s insistence on treating Iraq as its final lifeline, its “strategic depth” to be reshaped according to Tehran’s mood, severing it from its Arab surroundings.

Yet Iraq—the Iraq of its people, not its militias—despite all its contradictions, has begun to reclaim its Arab identity. Iran knows this well, which is why it seeks to bind Iraq to a union that exists only in the imagination of those who have lost the ability to read maps.

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This proposal reveals more than it hides: it exposes Iran’s fear of losing its last foothold, and conceals its inability to admit that the era of hegemony is over.

Between fear and denial, no union is born—only a new illusion, unfit even as a draft.

In the end, Iran is not proposing unions; it is proposing emergency exits.

The state that once boasted of controlling four Arab capitals is now searching for a “union” to salvage what remains of its fading influence.

The problem is not the proposal—it is the proposer: a state that has lost the ability to convince itself, let alone convince others.

This is not a project, nor a vision, nor even a roadmap.

It is a desperate attempt to recycle isolation into a political initiative.

And if this is the “regional union” Tehran is promoting, then it deserves its real name: The Union of Those Fleeing Reality.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.

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