👉🏻 https://x.com/michaelarothman/status/2041170242928619768

👉🏻 https://nitter/michaelarothman/status/2041170242928619768

(Copypasta follows)

𝐈𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐀𝐍 𝐉𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 𝐃𝐑𝐎𝐏𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐒𝐓 𝐃𝐄𝐕𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐑 𝐀𝐂𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐈𝐒𝐋𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐂 𝐑𝐄𝐏𝐔𝐁𝐋𝐈𝐂’𝐒 𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐏𝐒𝐄 — 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐒 𝐊𝐇𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐈’𝐒 𝐎𝐖𝐍 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐒 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐊𝐄𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐈𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝐏𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐓𝐘

An Iranian dissident journalist went on GB News and delivered what may be the most illuminating six minutes of analysis on Iran’s war from anyone who actually understands the regime from the inside.

First, the leadership vacuum. He said the new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is essentially invisible: “𝘞𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘔𝘰𝘫𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘢 𝘒𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘪, 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘰𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘈𝘐, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘯𝘰 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦”. He called it “𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥’𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘈𝘐 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳” — meaning nobody actually knows who is running the country right now.

The people left to negotiate? “𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘒𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘪”. The moderate voices have been k∗lled or removed. Only the hardliners remain — and they don’t want a deal.

Then he revealed a conversation that explains 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 about the Islamic Republic’s philosophy. Khamenei’s own economic advisor once asked him: if we become friends with the United States, we’ll have higher economic growth. Khamenei’s response: “𝘐𝘧 𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘤 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘵𝘩, 𝘸𝘦’𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦. 𝘚𝘰 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘺”.

Read that again. The Supreme Leader of Iran 𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝 that the regime deliberately keeps its own people impoverished to maintain religious control. That’s not an accusation from the outside — that’s the regime’s own operating philosophy, from the top.

He called it “𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘮” — the Islamic Republic’s core ideology. 𝟒𝟓 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 of k∗lling American soldiers with roadside bombs, k∗lling Syrian citizens, attacking the U.S. embassy, attacking the U.K. embassy. He noted that the street the British embassy sits on in Tehran was renamed from 𝐂𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐁𝐨𝐛𝐛𝐲 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐭 — after an IRA hunger striker — specifically to humiliate the British.

The most important part: what do Iranians actually inside the country think? “𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘤 𝘙𝘦𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘮𝘣𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘤 𝘙𝘦𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤 𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘳”.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐨𝐦𝐛𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦.