What next for Iran? Donald Trump appears to have a plan: the Venezuela model. The US president has hinted that, just as with the South American nation, he wants to try working with elements inside the existing regime, rather than backing exiled opposition figures.

The biggest massacres in Iran’s recent history happened under so-called reformers

The biggest massacres in Iran’s recent history happened under so-called reformers

‘We have a formula, Venezuela, smart country,’ he said this week. ‘We’ve taken out 100 million barrels of oil which is now in Houston…being taken care of and made so beautiful in refineries.’ But if Trump really is planning on copying his playbook for Venezuela in Iran, he should be warned: it will be a disaster.

Why? Because, put simply, the Islamic Republic idolises death over rational thinking. For Iran’s leaders, martyrdom isn’t a risk; it’s the ultimate honour. That is what sets Iran apart from Venezuela. Venezuela’s Chavistas believed in ideology, but they were not, in most cases, willing to die for it. But in the Islamic Republic, dying for your beliefs is seen as the ultimate virtue.

Whenever a high-ranking official dies, the Iranian regime declare that person has achieved the highest rank before Allah. Khamenei once said that ‘Martyrdom is the highest reward........

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