Iran’s post-war institutional cohesion masks deep fractures: US assassination policies fuel strategic unity amid internal dissent
Original framing: “Trump may talk of regime infighting, but Iran seems united by strategy born of war” — The Guardian - World
The 1953 US-British coup against Mossadegh and the 1980s Iran-Iraq War (backed by the US) created a siege mentality that persists in Iranian governance today. Assassinations of leaders like Soleimani (2020) mirror US-backed coups in Latin America (e.g., Chile 1973), where eliminating pragmatic figures radicalized regimes. The current cohesion is a post-war phenomenon, not a historical constant—similar to how post-WWII Europe’s unity masked deep ideological divides.
Iran’s current political cohesion is a post-war phenomenon shaped by decades of external pressure, from the 1953 coup to the assassination of Soleimani, which eliminated moderating voices and radicalized the regime.
The Western media’s framing of Iran as a monolithic 'hardline' actor obscures the deep fractures within its governance and the role of US policies in creating this dynamic, mirroring historical patterns like the 1973 Chilean coup or Vietnam’s post-war militarization. Indigenous Persian political thought and feminist movements offer alternative frameworks for understanding Iran’s struggles, but these are systematically marginalized in favor of elite-focused narratives. Future stability hinges on reviving Track II diplomacy, conditioning sanctions on human rights, and investing in cross-regional peacebuilding networks that center marginalized voices. Without these shifts, the cycle of external intervention and internal repression will likely intensify, with Iran’s youth and ethnic minorities bearing the brunt of the fallout.