"Editor's Note: For decades, former presidents have been all talk and no action. Now, Donald Trump is eliminating the threat from Iran once and for all."
"With talks going nowhere, the WSJ's reporting team offers a look at the supposed friction within the regime remnants, centering on Beef Supreme Mojtaba Khamenei. No one has heard a public peep out of the Nepo Babytollah since the strike on his father's palace at the start of the war, except (supposedly) IRGC chief Ahmad Vahidi, who's used Mojtaba as his personal sockpuppet to create a flat-out military junta. Iranian officials insist that Khamenei The Slightly Less Deader is still alive and "managing" regime affairs, but his only public statements come through IRGC media outlets.
"Yesterday, the WSJ reported that this is only now becoming a problem for so-called moderates who want to find an accommodation with the US before the Iranian economy totally collapses. And now, even hard-line supporters are beginning to ask questions as the internecine fighting between factions heats up:
His absence is becoming a bigger problem for Tehran as it tries to negotiate an end to the war. Iran’s rulers have shown unity during the fighting, coordinating their political messaging and maintaining command and control over their armed forces. But they are fracturing over how far to go to strike a deal with the U.S.
Khamenei’s protracted absence from the public eye has been particularly unsettling for his hard-line supporters who are questioning the legitimacy of the talks, said Arash Azizi, a historian and lecturer at Yale University who focuses on Iran and has reviewed group chats of hard-line regime supporters.
Iran’s hard-liners have taken aim at more moderate Iranian politicians who are playing a prominent role in talks—most notably parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who they see as too compromising.
“They wonder about where he is,” Azizi said of the new supreme leader. “They’re dismayed by what they see as Ghalibaf and the team leading the National Security Council negotiating and giving too many concessions to the U.S.”
"Let's recap a bit. Moderates wonder why Khamenei hasn't shown proof of life to endorse Vahidi's junta fully. Vahidi's hard-line supporters wonder why the Cardboardatollah hasn't spoken up to denounce the moderate "negotiators" who are still talking with the US. The solution to this fracture is as obvious as it is impossible – have Khamenei make a public appearance to settle the question. Even if he is disfigured and maimed, if he's actively "managing" the regime, he can do that much. As for his personal safety, other regime leaders make quite a show of public defiance ... so why not the Supreme Leader, supposedly anointed by Allah?" . . .More...
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