{"id":349304,"date":"2026-11-12T20:58:33","date_gmt":"2026-11-12T19:58:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=349304"},"modified":"2026-11-12T20:58:33","modified_gmt":"2026-11-12T19:58:33","slug":"regime-infighting-deepens-as-rival-factions-battle-over-security-negotiations-and-control-of-the-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/nuclear\/regime-infighting-deepens-as-rival-factions-battle-over-security-negotiations-and-control-of-the-state\/","title":{"rendered":"Regime Infighting Deepens as Rival Factions Battle Over Security, Negotiations and Control of the State"},"content":{"rendered":"
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FILE PHOTO: Brawl between MPs in Iran\u2019s parliament (Majlis)parliament-majlis-infighting.jpg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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

The Iranian regime\u2019s internal disputes are no longer confined to familiar factional sniping. They are spreading across the institutions that matter most to the survival of the ruling system: the intelligence apparatus, state broadcasting, the nuclear and war files, and the question of who ultimately controls negotiations with Washington.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What emerges from the regime\u2019s own newspapers is a ruling establishment under pressure from war, economic deterioration and external isolation, with rival factions increasingly maneuvering to control whatever political space remains.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The latest dispute over the Intelligence Ministry is especially revealing.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For nearly eight months, the ministry has been run by an acting minister after Esmail Khatib was killed during the war. <\/span>Arman-e Melli<\/span><\/i><\/a> reports that the regime\u2019s president Masoud Pezeshkian has delayed naming a replacement because his preferred candidate reportedly lacks sufficient support in parliament and among other centers of power.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The dispute has now escalated into an attempt to rewrite the rules themselves.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Parliament is considering abolishing the requirement that the intelligence minister be a cleric qualified in Islamic jurisprudence. Under one proposal, two new bodies\u2014an Intelligence Protection Organization and an ideological-political organization\u2014would be created inside the ministry, with their chiefs appointed directly by the Supreme Leader.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Mojtaba Khamenei calls Iran the world\u2019s \u201cfourth superpower\u201d\u2014even No. 1 by \u201cdivine calculations.\u201d Yet #IranProtests<\/a> persist across the country, the rial is at record lows, inflation is called a security threat, critics are jailed, social restrictions tighten, factional battles\u2026<\/p>\n

— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) September 29, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n