{"id":338266,"date":"2025-10-16T14:49:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T13:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=338266"},"modified":"2025-10-17T07:53:45","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T06:53:45","slug":"irans-power-struggle-a-fractured-regime-hiding-behind-bold-rhetoric","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/iranian-regime-infighting\/irans-power-struggle-a-fractured-regime-hiding-behind-bold-rhetoric\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran\u2019s Power Struggle: A Fractured Regime Hiding Behind Bold Rhetoric"},"content":{"rendered":"
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FILE PHOTO: Brawl between MPs in the Iranian regime\u2019s parliament (Majlis)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Four-minute read<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The clerical dictatorship enters the autumn of 2025 in visible disarray. Beneath the usual slogans of strength and defiance, Iran\u2019s ruling elite is engaged in an open civil war of words and factions. Ministers, parliamentarians, and even state media now expose one another\u2019s failures with a candor unseen since the 1980s. Yet despite the internal chaos, the regime\u2019s rhetoric toward the outside world has grown even bolder\u2014an effort to mask weakness behind defiance.<\/p>\n

Science of the Bomb, Theater of Denial<\/h2>\n

When Mahmoud-Reza Aghamiri, head of Shahid Beheshti University and a veteran of the regime\u2019s nuclear establishment, declared on state television<\/a> that \u201c<\/em>we have the capability to build the bomb and could do it in the best way if we decide to,\u201d he momentarily stripped the regime of one of its long-held pretenses. His remark that every nuclear scientist \u201cmust know how a bomb is made\u201d contradicted years of official insistence on purely peaceful intent. His caveat\u2014crediting Khamenei\u2019s fatwa for restraint\u2014was perfunctory.<\/p>\n

That such a claim aired on official media underscores both hubris and insecurity. Domestically, it signals to a demoralized base that the regime is unbowed after the June Twelve-Day War and the reimposition of UN sanctions. Internationally, it is a message of desperation: a threat meant to project leverage at a time when Tehran is more isolated than ever. The louder the boast, the deeper the weakness it conceals.<\/p>\n

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#Iran<\/a> Faces Deepening Power Struggles Amid @UN<\/a> Sanctions \u201cSnapback\u201d https:\/\/t.co\/7CqMVhSUWz<\/a><\/p>\n

— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) September 1, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n