{"id":342718,"date":"2026-02-17T22:49:03","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T21:49:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=342718"},"modified":"2026-02-17T22:49:03","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T21:49:03","slug":"khamenei-moves-to-bolster-security-ranks-divides-protesters-as-geneva-talks-proceed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/iran-protests\/khamenei-moves-to-bolster-security-ranks-divides-protesters-as-geneva-talks-proceed\/","title":{"rendered":"Khamenei Moves to Bolster Security Ranks, Divides Protesters as Geneva Talks Proceed"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Feb.
Feb. 17, 2026 \u2014 Tehran: Ali Khamenei addresses a tightly controlled audience during a public appearance<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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

With indirect talks between the clerical regime in Iran and the United States underway in Geneva under Oman\u2019s mediation, Ali Khamenei used a carefully stage-managed appearance to do what he does when the regime feels exposed: intimidate the public, reassure the security apparatus, and pre-emptively frame any diplomatic movement as \u201csteadfastness,\u201d not retreat.<\/p>\n

The speech<\/a>, delivered to a handpicked crowd brought in under the label of \u201cpeople of Tabriz and East Azerbaijan,\u201d was never primarily aimed at foreign negotiators. It was aimed inward, at an exhausted apparatus that has taken reputational hits, battlefield losses, and a nationwide uprising that shattered the regime\u2019s claim to social consent. In Iran\u2019s power structure, the Supreme Leader is the final authority over core security and strategic files, including the nuclear track and the coercive institutions that keep the system alive; the diplomats operate within limits he sets.<\/p>\n

Khamenei\u2019s loudest lines were also his emptiest. He revived the familiar theater of deterrence, warning that while a U.S. aircraft carrier is \u201ca dangerous device,\u201d \u201cmore dangerous than the carrier is the weapon that can send it to the bottom of the sea,\u201d and sneering that even the \u201cstrongest army in the world\u201d can be hit so hard it \u201ccannot get up.\u201d This is not strength; it is performative bravado designed to anesthetize fear inside the regime\u2019s ranks. The irony is hard to miss: the same leadership that boasts of \u201cspecial\u201d capabilities presided over a 12-day war<\/a> in which senior commanders and nuclear scientists were killed and key military and industrial targets were hit, exposing vulnerabilities the propaganda cannot erase.<\/p>\n

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#Khamenei<\/a> Rejects U.S. Talks, Vows Enrichment Will Continue as Snapback Deadline Nearshttps:\/\/t.co\/Q0Ug6uBUgs<\/a><\/p>\n

— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) September 23, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n