Nationalism is a powerful weapon. Iranians who may loathe
the suffocating theocracy often rally behind it when Israel rattles its sabers.
The clergy has perfected the art of turning external threats into political
oxygen. By painting Israel as an existential menace, the clerics recast
themselves as the sole guardians of sovereignty. Instead of cracking the
system, Tel Aviv provides its clergy foes with the ultimate justification for
survival.
Worse still, Israel’s strategy systematically silences the
only real alternative inside Iran: reformists. Moderates who advocate
engagement with the world are mocked as naïve or treacherous whenever Israel
ups the ante. The hardliners gleefully point to every strike and sanction to
prove that diplomacy is a fool’s game. In doing so, Israel eliminates any space
for evolution from within, ensuring that Iran remains dominated by the most
rigid voices.
And then there’s the economic side. Sanctions and isolation
have not strangled the clergy; they’ve enriched it. The opponents often allege,
the Revolutionary Guards and clerical networks thrive on smuggling, black
markets, and sanction-busting schemes. Ordinary Iranians pay the price with
rising prices and shrinking opportunities, while the very elites Israel wants to
weaken grow stronger.
Israel’s strategy is not just flawed — it is
counterproductive. Instead of destabilizing Iran’s clerical establishment, it
props it up, fuels its legitimacy, and crushes dissent. Tel Aviv claims to be
undermining its greatest enemy; in reality, it is handing the clergy the very
tools it needs to endure.
The truth is brutal: Israel’s war against Iran’s clerics may
be the biggest gift it has ever given them.
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