ژورنال سایت خبری سیاسی ژورنال
PDF-English Journal-6 July 2025-No17
He’s back! Cloaked in black and visibly anxious, the Supreme Leader reappeared after a 22-day absence. They wheeled out a scarecrow of a man just to show he’s alive, not stepping down, and—above all—to prove that the Islamic Republic still has enough control to display its leader without fearing that a stray bullet from one of his inner circle might take him out.
Bravo! So this is what “powerful leadership” looks like: a figure once aspiring to be the dominant force in the region, parading his proxy forces as a show of might, and vying for command of the global Islamist movement—reduced to a puppet dragged into a melodramatic stage play.
They dragged this hollow shell from the depths of the earth only to have one of the palace’s eulogists sing “Ey Iran”—the patriotic anthem that once fed on nationalist grandeur but has now mutated into an Islamic imperialism in nationalist garb. All in the hope of seducing the deluded worshippers of the homeland.
And now what? They brought him out and took him back in. But what of Khamenei’s political standing? As commander-in-chief too terrified of assassination to leave his hidden lair—managing only to issue three ghostly messages from his hiding place—he has never seemed so unable to lead the Islamic Republic.
Yet the regime’s loyalists and opportunists alike—everyone with a vested interest in the regime’s survival—are desperately performing political CPR to revive Khamenei’s faltering heart. From reformists to career loyalists, the sycophancy is shameless, all for a slice of the regime’s dwindling rewards. Mohammad-Ali Abtahi, former chief of staff to President Khatami, gushed: “He came, and with him came Iran. In the height of psychological warfare, nothing was more soothing than his presence.”
But let’s be clear: this was not a man returning with resolve. He came feeble, visionless, and defeated—and that cannot be concealed.
Ultimately, this terrified leader can no longer deliver. Long before this twelve-day war, he was politically dead. During it, he became a corpse. His utter impotence is not personal but emblematic—a symptom of the long-standing paralysis of the Islamic Republic. And no one understands that better than the people of Iran.
English journal about the current situation in Iran
Editor-in-Chief: Keyvan Javid
Contact: 00447388575020
E-mail: keyvan.javid1@gmail.com
Editor: Patty Debonitas
