Iran’s Supreme Leader is not yet a disclosed figure on the world stage, but when he is a new Ayatollah will have risen to the fore. This comes with a mission and its mandate, and as far as regional realities go, it begins to have its effect.
The American drive for regime change isn’t necessarily a plan of action in such a circumstance as this because Persian identity is already understood like this and in the many other forms of community cohesion that exist in Iran today.
The religious aspect of Mojtaba Khamenei’s leadership position will come through, whom Iranians believe in large proportion to be the saviour of Islam in a world of vile influences. His is a political influence while Muslims wait for cleansing and their messiah.
The defence of the temporal and spiritual is therefore tied up in this one man. It’s difficult to suggest an alternative because religion is a deeply held sympathy, and from the plains to the urban centres it’s kept to with an avid vigilance.
But it’s business as usual because America won’t change its foreign policy, and the Middle East won’t change its ways. Progress is also lost so easily in a region that has competing agendas. Any plan for peace is ruined by further relapses to terror and acrimony.