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Kamikaze Drones and Hostage Diplomacy: The Price of Survival

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  By: Arash Kamangir When in the documented reports of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and in leaked documents from the IRGC’s clandestine networks, we encounter the footprint of Shahed drones in the war in Ukraine, in Hezbollah’s warehouses in Lebanon, and in the hands of the Houthis, we can no longer speak of a “defense industry.” What is being exported is terrorism packaged as technology. The Iranian regime has for years continued its survival with a simple equation: Create crisis to remain inside. The kamikaze drone is not just a weapon; it is a bargaining tool. When this same drone explodes over Kyiv, the negotiating table in Vienna and Brussels also trembles. This is what I call “hostage diplomacy.” Of course, hostage-taking for ransom began exactly on the first day of the establishment of the clerical regime – the occupation of the US Embassy on November 4, 1979 and holding 52 American diplomats hostage for 444 days, to hostage-taking in Lebanon in the 1980...
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Economy of Plunder: How the IRGC Turns the Iranian People’s Empty Table into a Missile and Drone Budget

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  By: Kazem Nouri – Regional Security Expert, Researcher of Social Movements in Iran and Iraq and Human Rights Activist Overview: This article examines the structure of the economy of plunder in Iran; an economy in which the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is not a military institution, but the largest economic-security cartel in the Middle East. Based on documents from the Iranian Resistance and international reports, we show how the empty table of the Iranian people is directly turned into a budget for missiles, drones and foreign terrorism, and why this economic model itself is the engine of future uprisings. 1. Shocking Statistics: The IRGC’s Economic Empire According to documented reports by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), today more than 60% of Iran’s economy is directly or indirectly controlled by the IRGC. This empire is run through the Khatam al-Anbiya Construction Headquarters – which swallows the largest oil, gas, dam and road projects without...
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Iran’s War of Survival: Why Economic Pressure May Matter More Than Bombardment

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  Written by Mehdi Oghbai Six-minute read More than four months into the confrontation involving Iran and the United States, the conflict appears to have entered a decisive phase. The central question is no longer simply how much military damage either side can inflict. It is whether Tehran can turn prolonged confrontation into a political instrument of survival — or whether sustained economic isolation will expose vulnerabilities that military strikes alone have failed to exploit. The Iranian regime’s leadership has sought to portray its posture around the Strait of Hormuz as evidence of strength and strategic leverage. By threatening shipping and placing pressure on one of the world’s most important energy corridors, Tehran appears to calculate that it can eventually force Western governments to choose economic stability over confrontation. At the same time, the political and military restructuring described inside Iran points towards preparation for continued confrontation rathe...
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Mojtaba Khamenei’s New Appointments; Aims and Consequences

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  Fixing the Shaky Nails of the Hereditary Caliphate to Save the Sheikh and Shah Establishment Amid Intractable Crises against the Inevitable Uprising of the Iranian People By Reza Hoseani Introduction: A Hereditary Monarchy Called Velayat The transfer of power in the Velayat-e Faqih system has always been its Achilles’ heel. Ali Khamenei, who himself ascended to Khomeini’s chair through Rafsanjani’s engineering and the elimination of Ayatollah Montazeri, is now trying to repeat the same scenario but in a familial and hereditary form. Mojtaba Khamenei, a son who grew up throughout his father’s 35-year sultanate in the security shadow of the Beit, relying on a network of eulogists, interrogators and corrupt IRGC generals, today sits as “King Mojtaba” on the throne of absolute sultanate without a single day of war record, management, or clerical legitimacy. The difference in authority between him and his father is from earth to sky. Ali Khamenei came at least with a record of preside...
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Containing the Mullahs’ Warmongering in Iran; From Deterrence to Arming the People of Iran

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  By Reza Hoseani The Necessity of a Structural Change in Iran’s Governance for Lasting Peace in the Middle East Why Couldn’t the US-Israeli War Force the Mullahs to Retreat and Surrender? Despite heavy attacks by the US and Israel since February 2026 and a global energy crisis, the Iranian regime has shown that it is fighting for survival and is not ready to surrender with its missile and proxy levers. This reality has shown the limits of purely external deterrence. Are Regional Pacts Effective? The Mecca Agreement can raise the cost of a direct invasion of Saudi Arabia, but it cannot contain the regime’s inherent warmongering. Experience has shown that defense pacts do not prevent proxy wars, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and cross-border terrorism. Irremediable Crises and the Mojtaba Khamenei Faction Today, the regime faces three simultaneous crises: economic collapse, political and social illegitimacy after nationwide uprisings, and a power struggle at the top centered o...
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