US Intel Community Foresees Serious Challenges For Iranian Regime

The death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei could “challenge” the Islamic Republic, the US intelligence community has suggested in its annual Threat Assessment.

Published Monday, the report says the state in Iran has undergone only a single supreme leader transition in its 45-year history and is mired by “elite factionalism.”

Khamenei –who will be 85 next month– has held the ostensibly elected position by a small group of clerics since 1989. He still seems to have a tight grip on power, despite widespread discontent in the country over corruption, injustice, antediluvian social restrictions, and what many people see as utter incompetence in solving the array of issues they face.

“Iran’s economy continues to struggle amidst high inflation,” reads the 2024 US intelligence community report. ”Most wages are unable to keep pace with the higher prices, leading to declines in households’ spending power.”

But these don’t seem to affect Ali Khamenei who ignores or demonizes the dissenting populace, speaking and tending only to his shrinking group of loyal supporters who prop up the regime by brute force.

Many experts believe that it’s only a matter of time before the regime and its supreme leader come up against another round of widespread protest, like the ones that shook Iran in 2022 after a young woman called Mahsa Amini was stopped on the street for her ‘improper’ outfit and later died in hospital due to a head injury she had sustained in custody.

The ensuing protests –in which more than 550 civilians were killed and at least 20,000 arrested– widened the rift between the regime and the people, leading to an almost complete rupture, illustrated by an historically low turnout in the most recent parliamentary elections that were held early March.

Facing a crisis of legitimacy in Iran, the supreme leader seems to have turned his focus outwards, acting as the leader of non-Iranian armed groups fighting against his most favorite enemies: the US and Israel.

“The resistance is still standing strong and will rub the nose of the Zionists to the ground,” Khamenei said Tuesday, meeting the Quran enthusiasts on the eve of Ramadan –the Muslim month of fasting and self-reflection.

Curiously, his words seemed to be in line with Israel’s assessment that there may be an “increase in terror during Ramadan”, especially in the West Bank. “Iran is working to up the severity of attacks by smuggling in many weapons,” Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant said Monday in a meeting with Israel’s elite Duvdevan unit.

Iran’s regional ambitions and adventures have also been reflected at length in the US intelligence community’s annual report.

“Iran will remain a threat to Israel and US allies and interests in the region well after the Gaza conflict,” the Threat Assessment reads, “and probably will continue arming and aiding its allies to threaten the United States as well as backing Hamas and others who seek to block a peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinians.”

“While Iran will remain careful to avoid a direct conflict with either Israel or the United States, it nonetheless enabled scores of militia rocket, missile, and UAV attacks against US forces in Iraq and Syria; Hizballah exchanges of fire with Israel on the north border with Lebanon; and Houthi missile and UAV attacks, both on Israel directly and on international commercial shipping transiting the Red Sea.”

The report continues: “Tehran will try to leverage recent military successes through its emboldened threat network, diplomatic gains, its expanded nuclear program, and its military sales to advance its ambitions, including by trying to further bolster ties with Moscow.”