{"id":344907,"date":"2026-05-07T18:30:33","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T17:30:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=344907"},"modified":"2026-05-07T18:47:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T17:47:22","slug":"irans-suffering-cartel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/terrorism-a-fundamentalism\/irans-suffering-cartel\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran\u2019s\u00a0Suffering Cartel\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"iran-drones-terrorism-min\"
An Iranian-manufactured “Gaza” drone (Shahed-149) on display in a military hangar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Three-minute read<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the spring of 2<\/span>026, after the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed in the war and much of the regime\u2019s nuclear and missile programs had been damaged, his son and heir, Mojtaba Khamenei, did not sue for peace. His forces kept harassing tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, fired on Gulf shipping, and funneled fresh money to proxies from Lebanon to Yemen. Even gutted, the regime\u2019s first instinct was the same one it has followed for forty-seven years: survival by inflicting pain<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is not religious zealotry. It is a doctrine older than the\u00a0regime\u00a0itself. The mullahs and their Revolutionary Guard do not govern Iran; they extort the world with human suffering. They have one tool, and\u00a0they have never needed\u00a0another.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

From the\u00a0beginning\u00a0the regime understood that misery is leverage. It seized American hostages in 1979, staged bombings in Lebanon, and built a global terror network not to spread the faith but to force concessions. It irritated Iraq into war, then\u2014after repelling the invasion in 1982\u2014rejected\u00a0Iraq\u2019s ceasefire<\/a> and full withdrawal. Khomeini dragged the slaughter on for six more years, sending teenage boys into human-wave attacks while executing dissidents at home as \u201ctraitors.\u201d The war was never about holy defense. It was about\u00a0consolidating\u00a0power through\u00a0blood.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Scholars still misread the regime as \u201cIslamic extremism\u201d like ISIS or al-Qaeda. The difference is simple: jihadists chase apocalyptic purity. Iran\u2019s rulers chase\u00a0maslahat-e\u00a0nezaam<\/em>\u2014the \u201cexpediency of the state.\u201d They suspend Islamic rules when convenient,<\/span>\u00a0partner with atheist\u00a0and c<\/span>ommunist\u00a0regimes, and run na<\/span>rcotics networks and ghost fleets to dodge sanctions. Religion is the costume. Deceit is the operating system.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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THREAD
For more than four decades, the clerical regime in #Iran<\/a> has consistently blackmailed other nations and considered #extremism<\/a> as "leverage". 1\/9https:\/\/t.co\/ieaaOkZb6y<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/W9u5BJHXqs<\/a><\/p>\n

— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) September 6, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n