Hardline MP Kamran Ghazanfari [affiliated with the Paydari Front] claims President Masoud Pezeshkian and his allies are systematically stripping power from the Supreme Leader by strengthening the Supreme National Security Council and sidelining both the leadership and parliament. According to Ghazanfari, the plan is to make the Supreme National Security Council the country's sole decision-making body, calling it a “political coup” being carried out step by step.
He also alleges that Basij units have been instructed not to support nightly pro-regime gatherings and that parliament has effectively been shut down for four months to prevent lawmakers from opposing the alleged power grab. Whether these allegations are accurate or not, the fact that senior figures within the Islamic Republic are now publicly accusing each other of orchestrating a coup underscores the growing internal fractures and power struggle at the top of the regime.
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Alongside antisemitic, anti-imperialist, and geopolitical motives, Iranian discourse regarding Israel also relies on a theological-legal foundation. According to the perception promoted by Iran, the territory of Israel is considered waqf land, a religious endowment that cannot be permanently transferred or relinquished. At the core of this perception also lies Iranian opposition to Jewish sovereignty over the al-Aqsa Mosque, regarded as the first qibla of the Muslims. The leadership of the Islamic Republic adopted this interpretation to justify an uncompromising stance toward the very existence of Israel. If the territory is defined as an Islamic waqf, then any recognition of Jewish sovereignty over it is perceived as a violation of divine law.
The conflict is therefore presented not merely as a political or territorial dispute but as a religious struggle over sacred land belonging to the Islamic nation. Within this framework, Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for the elimination of Israel, elevating the struggle to a religious obligation. Several senior regime figures have further linked Israel's destruction to the reappearance of the Hidden Imam, who, according to Shiite belief, is destined to emerge at the end of days. These figures include IRGC Quds Force Chief Esmail Qaani (statement made on December 2021), Deputy IRGC Commander Ali Fadavi (July 2017), [15] and Ayatollah Hossein Noori Hamedani (October 2023), [16] a senior pro-regime cleric based in Qom. Also prominent in this discourse is Mehdi Taeb (February 2019),[17] head of the Ammar Strategic Think Tank and a close associate of Mojtaba Khamenei, who reportedly advocated for the latter's leadership. Within this worldview, the annihilation of Israel and the weakening of the West are viewed as essential catalysts for the Imam's reappearance and the ultimate redemption of the Shiite world.
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https://www.meforum.org/meq/behind-irans-ambition-to-destroy-israel