Iran is often described in the language of crisis. Nuclear thresholds, proxy wars, sanctions, escalation. Yet beneath these visible pressures lies a deeper logic that shapes how the state thinks, acts and endures. Iran behaves like a power that has made a deliberate choice about time.

To understand that choice, one must begin with an idea that sits at the centre of its worldview: the concept of the Hidden Imam.

In Shia Islamic thought, the Hidden Imam is a divinely guided leader, a descendant of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), believed to be alive yet concealed from public view. His absence is temporary, his return certain. When he reappears, he will restore justice in a world that has been overtaken by imbalance and disorder. This belief frames history itself as incomplete. Authority becomes provisional. The present becomes a bridge rather than a destination.

This has direct political consequences.

If ultimate authority belongs to a figure whose return lies in the future, then no existing state can claim final sovereignty. Power is exercised in trust. In Iran, this idea is embedded into the structure of governance. The Supreme Leader rules as a representative, a deputy of the Hidden Imam, rather than as a final sovereign. The state exists as a custodian of a larger, unfinished order.

Such a system develops a distinctive relationship with time.

It values endurance over immediacy. It treats pressure as a condition to be managed rather than a problem to be resolved quickly. Sanctions, isolation and confrontation become part of a broader narrative in which the present remains open, awaiting a future realignment of justice.

Vali Nasr's........

© The Express Tribune