Middle East

The funeral preparations for the late Ali Khamenei have been a geopolitical nightmare for those with a hawkish view of politics and leadership at the moment. To see Russian, Iraqi, and Chinese delegations make their way to pay their respects raises awkward questions about anything else going on in the world.

This is surely not the cohort that we need to see roaming freely and doing what they want, but these are countries with a will and ideas of their own. This is their congregation over serious matters, but it eludes the sympathies of the rational that see confusion in their actions and the madness of national policies that coalesce at this point.

The elimination of a key diplomatic and cultural figure leaves a wide gap that a successor must fill. America obviously finds it difficult to handle such people, and Israel isn’t a relevant concern in this matter. The grievance that’s left is a weight that the world feels now, a calculation of the impact of what will come out from future actions.

There’s no less anger in Iraq and Afghanistan now than there has been previously to our joint incursions there. However justified in print, there are still factions that seek to manipulate any point to make their native form of militaristic activity make gains worldwide. This one will seemingly last forever, and policymakers will need to be careful to keep it in play.

The life of an Iranian in Iran is said to be centred around its faces and figures in many ways. These are religious clerics, local politicians, and celebrities of many types and hues. Such are a marketplace of ideas and ideals that buzz and fizz in-between the raucous activity of a normal Middle Eastern country.

The loss or absence of Ali Khamenei is the lack of the one that loomed largest, since he came to define the cultural mix of hopes and attitude more than anyone else. He factored in his rule with inroads that they now know ran deeper than previously thought. He was a watchful keeper, but also a Big Brother.

Living without a menace or an inspiration has come to be a fact of the matter for those in the Middle East, that’ve felt the full force of strikes or conflict in their backyard. The loss is statecraft, but there’s a sense of dissatisfaction that cannot be interpreted so easily. Pressure makes people feel enslaved, but a country is still a worthy cause.

The funeral of Ali Khamenei is going to come at a bitter time for Iranians everywhere. They don’t want to see him go, lost to time and now history and useless to them and their enterprise as a nation.

Khamenei studied their status at great length. He made amends where he could and lifted the esteem of their ways in parts of the world.

The years to come aren’t without a new Supreme Leader, but the changeover won’t be easy. The manner of his assassination is of no small concern. It will build as anger as Mojtaba moves on.

The US aside, a national recovery will bring about similar calls for immediate help and development on a large scale. It may not happen, because matters in Iran don’t unfold in this way at all.

Protests aren’t the point. Patient, quiet requests in the Islamic country are. The prayers of the hopeful, the saintly will be directed in this way, too. Actually, a religious bloc wants to see religious duties fulfilled, for their own betterment.

The restored position of a ‘flattened’ Iran will look much the same as before, except for more confidence on the international scene. This is because Mojtaba Khamenei has stored up success in smaller ways for his population.

This assiduous worker has laid foundations for his rule over the course of decades. Not averse to hard work, the new Supreme Leader expects more from his country and greater things from his people but in prosaic contexts.

The type or system of control utilised in the Persian nation results in a lateral landscape. This means age groups are strongly defined and seek outlets worldwide. It may entail young look at young and old meet old. This is the inlet for understanding influence, leading to control outwardly.

As a sensitive thinker, Khamenei also is suspected by Intelligence internationally of having many options. These are subtle power plays, and more logic than truth. He’s not prone to enthusiasm for things his own regime prohibits. The moves in his war chest represent his best chance at defence.

The population he has is spread out in all its colours and stripes as a known quantity that he’s now taken responsibility for and will use to his own advantage. The Middle East is on notice because his influence will loom large in its own affairs, much to their chagrin.

The idea that Iran is a fully formed country after a revolution is a falsification of history for political expediency in Journalism. The beginnings of a changeover of power from 1979 cannot constitute a real revolution in terms.

In fact, the start of it is believed to be based off a trick that was played on its former ruler. Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was falsely advised to leave the country. It was in fact a legal condition of him indicating he wished to step down.

Ayatollah Khomeini took over because he saw this and felt his opportunity had come. He saw his cause had built up – inside and outside the country – and argued its legitimacy. In light of the legal technicality, he was able to begin a takeover.

The growth of his rule was rudimentary during his life, and after ten years the Supreme Leadership rapidly expanded under Ali Khamenei. It has achieved a status that cannot be denied.

*A change was made to include a graphic.

In the aftermath of Israel’s strikes in Iran, and America’s continuing efforts to disrupt Iranian progress until peace is assured, the Supreme Leader of Iran has come out with a stern message. It can be found on an official X account by way of a twelve-part posted thread.

Albeit its language is strong, using terms like “Imperialism” and “malicious” to describe the US, it has to be interpreted politically to make any sense. Addressed particularly to the Middle East – if they have friends, still – Mojtaba Khamenei exhorts defiance of criticism of Iranians.

“Imperialism, led by the US, has built a military base called Israel over the past 80 years. And they don’t accept the existence of a strong, independent Iran on the eastern border of the false, illegitimate geography of “Greater Israel”—that is, east of the Euphrates River.”

– Mojtaba Khamenei/X

He implies any perceived damage to infrastructure sustained in recent months should be ignored for the sake of their stability. He seems to insist Iran has not suffered critical losses, and that Iranians are happy to carry on as they were before.

He implies Islam remains the focus of his work and he will help his people to be better Muslims as a result of protecting them from any outside influences he finds. He’s also a third in a line of leadership. He refers to his late father as a predecessor to his as-yet undefined path.

The most difficult part of the altercations between Iran and Israel is the matter of Jerusalem. In Iran a war against Israel is considered to be perpetual and will last until Jerusalem is in the hands of a military authority that has an Islamic nation in oversight of it.

Tehran’s leadership does not necessarily believe that Iran will be that nation. In recent history Iran’s Presidents have wanted it to be so. But cooler heads have prevailed and outright war has been avoided because it’s not believed that Jerusalem is their prize.

The local troubles in Jerusalem can be blamed to an extent on Iran, but they see that groups closer to Israel are more than capable of doing it themselves. Thus, they make attempts more along the lines of mainstream activity, such as moves to disrupt politics, influence society, and create trouble elsewhere.