Artist: Behnam Mohammadi
By: Kayhan Life Staff
Die-hard supporters of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei believe “enemies from among both jinn and humans” are united against the Islamic Republic, accusing foreign powers and their intelligence services of recruiting supernatural forces in a grand conspiracy against Tehran.
The wheel spins: “water shortages.” Another spin: “power outages.” One more: “crippling inflation.” There are no winning options.
Earlier this week, President Masoud Pezeshkian lamented: “There’s no place left without difficulties,” citing widespread shortages of water, electricity, gas, budget, and common sense in international relations.
Nearly two months into open war with Israel, resulting in the deaths of top generals and nuclear scientists, Tehran’s “Axis of Resistance” looks more like a solo act than an alliance. China and Russia have offered sympathy but no lifelines. Hezbollah, along with Iraq’s militias and Yemen’s Houthis, has little to offer as well.
The situation in Lebanon is telling. After the cabinet approved a U.S.-backed roadmap to disarm Hezbollah, President Joseph Aoun told Ali Larijani, Khamenei’s senior adviser, that no group in Lebanon may bear arms or rely on foreign sponsors. Syria’s new government under al-Julani went further, barring Larijani’s plane from its airspace and forcing a detour via Iraq and Turkey.
To the north, Washington brokered an unlikely peace treaty between Azerbaijan and Armenia, handing control of a strategic 20-mile corridor on Iran’s border to a U.S. private consortium. It will carry the name “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity.” Khamenei adviser Ali Akbar Velayati vowed it would become a “graveyard for Trump’s mercenaries,” though with Tehran’s diminished clout, the threat might end up etched on the welcome sign.
Meanwhile in Europe, the clock is ticking. France, Germany, and the U.K. have given Tehran two weeks to admit IAEA inspectors to its remaining nuclear sites, threatening a UN “snapback” of sanctions if it refuses.
In Tehran’s rigged carnival, the only prize left is motion sickness.
