Beware a vile opponent on the ropes
| Washington Times |
By Unknown author – http://english.khamenei.ir/photo/5807/Ayatollah-Khamenei-met-with-Hajj-organizers, CC BY 4.0, Wikipedia
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, recently posted on X that the U.S. bombing campaign in June did not obliterate Iran’s nuclear facilities, as President Trump has repeatedly claimed. “In your dreams!” the 86-year-old wrote. The exact nature of the damage, which experts continue to debate and most say is significant, is not the most critical element at play. Most important is that the Iranian leader continues to portray the war as a victory and refuses to return to the negotiating table.
Mr. Khamenei’s quest to look powerful despite the facts on the ground shows that Iran is cornered. That doesn’t mean it ceases to pose a threat. In fact, the recent events that have weakened Iran — including Israel’s 12-day war against the Islamic republic, which the U.S. joined to drop its bunker-busting bombs onto underground nuclear facilities, and international sanctions that triggered a free fall in an Iranian economy already suffering from 40% inflation — are fueling a heated debate inside the Islamic regime that may trigger Iran to take military or other aggressive actions against the West in coming months.
Meanwhile, Iran is rearming with the assistance of China. This means the West, now preoccupied with implementing the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, cannot push Iran to the back burner.
Mr. Khamenei risks facing the wrath of the population as it grows closer to losing patience with the deteriorating economic conditions. He continues to ignore the pragmatists in the regime who offer a possible solution: Get the sanctions lifted by opening negotiations over enriching uranium and allowing the International Atomic Energy Agency full access to all nuclear facilities. This could ease the severe economic sanctions and isolation if Mr. Khamenei wanted to compromise.
Instead, Iran has left the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, refuses negotiations with the West and says it will never stop practicing its “legal right” to enrich uranium as a matter of “national pride.” It has threatened to leave the international Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and has carried out ballistic missile tests, a sign of its willingness to take military action.
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