Washington’s most enduring and destructive foreign policy pathology is wishful thinking. For decades, the American foreign policy establishment has pinned its hopes on the mirage of Iranian moderation, treating the Islamic Republic as a conventional state acting on rational interests. While diplomats chase the phantom of “reformist” President Masoud Pezeshkian, an unalloyed totalitarian blueprint is hardening inside Tehran.

Mohammad-Bagher Kharazi, an influential cleric and Khamenei family in-law, recently exposed what Iranian dissidents have long warned: the Islamic Republic’s electoral façade is dead. Kharazi openly admitted that the current system “simply does not work anymore.” His solution is not democracy, but the total elimination of the republic in favor of an absolute, unadulterated Islamic government. This is not mere rhetorical bluster; it is a meticulous doctrine for an internal coup.

By the admission of Kharazi himself, Hezbollah of Iran—his political party— has compiled sixty volumes detailing the vulnerabilities of every state institution. His operational calculus is precise. By ordering each follower to recruit seventeen others, Kharazi aims to deploy 250 disciplined loyalists across 1,000 cities. This disciplined network of 250,000 ideological zealots is engineered to paralyze........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)