The bell will soon toll for the end of the Islamic Shi’ite caliphate in Iran - opinion

Iran is in turmoil, with the ruling establishment moving weapons depots away from city centers. It does not want history to repeat itself. As Akbar Rafsanjani, a former Iranian president, once said, “We will not repeat the shah’s mistake!”

That same day, in another corner of Tehran, there was a demonstration in support of the shah and the Constitution. Yet the world’s media – heavily influenced by leftist thinking – was far more inclined to turn Khomeini into an idol.

That same day, clashes broke out between Air Force technicians and the shah’s Imperial Guard. From a military training center, Khomeini’s supporters opened fire. Meanwhile, Khomeini was staying at a school only four or five miles from that military facility, fomenting unrest.

Suddenly, weapons fell into the hands of civilians. People then attacked police stations and military barracks, and Khomeini rode the wave, issuing a decree of Islamic jihad – Islamic terrorism. Suddenly, Islamist and Marxist terrorists hiding behind Khomeini’s clerical robe plunged the capital into chaos.

The following day, the navy joined the air force, and on February 11, the military declared neutrality – which, in practice, amounted to a betrayal of the shah.

These days, the ruling establishment in Iran is again paralyzed. They say that former supreme leader Ali Khamenei’s crazy son, Mojtaba, is still alive, but whether he is dead or alive is of no importance to Iranian society. The regime does not fear the United States or Israel. Its nightmare is a nationwide uprising by the Iranian people against the current ruling establishment.

In reality, however, the regime has been brought to its knees. Mojtaba certainly has not become Gandhi, though for now the authorities have made urban metro systems free, so that society will not rise over higher gasoline prices – a society that is waiting for a spark.

That spark has nothing to do with the United States or Israel. The Iranian people are not asleep; this is an awake and intelligent society.

The weakness of the current ruling establishment is the possibility that a society living under the pressure of dictatorship could gain access to weapons. That historical precedent is the regime’s nightmare.

If it happens, Iran could enter a civil war, because the religious forces and supporters of the regime would transform themselves into underground terrorist cells operating out of mosques, unwilling to surrender power peacefully.

But this will undoubtedly happen. What we are witnessing now is the calm before the storm. Severe poverty, public discontent, and shortages are tightening their grip around Iran’s throat.

Iranians know the nature and character of the Shi’ite mullah. Yet someone like Vance speaks as though, during the past 48 years, he has neither read a newspaper nor listened to the radio. But his ear is open to the Islamic Republic’s notorious lobby in Washington.

Naturally, along this difficult and winding road, if Israel and the United States help the Iranian people achieve freedom, so much the better, and they deserve gratitude. But the determining variables in this equation will not be the United States and Israel.

Some of those same media outlets associated with the political Left do not want to examine the most basic question: Who fired first? The elder Khamenei, who was worse than Genghis Khan, ordered the killing of people. Members of this criminal faction – such as Ahmad Vahidi, commander-in-chief of the IRGC; Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, and others – were accomplices to this crime. Today, they surround themselves with knife-wielding thugs, street toughs, and hooligans simply to stay alive. No one even knows where they sleep at night.

A strange kind of fragmentation and disintegration has emerged within Iran’s ruling establishment. The Iranian regime is deeply confused and no longer has the power to control an enraged society.

History is repeating itself. The Seleucids took Iran, as did the Mongols and the Seljuks. Yet each time, Iranians rebuilt the foundations of their civilization, reclaimed their sovereignty, and restored the institution of monarchy.

At the foundation of Iranian thought lies the philosophy of Zoroaster. In Iranian civilization and history, the shah means the guardian of the law, the representative of the law, and the symbol of law, truth, and righteousness. This is fundamentally different from the sultan – the Islamic dictator. The history of Iran is a living history. Iranians have lost sovereignty many times, only to reclaim it again.

Indeed, Canada’s Conservatives have played their ace – and outplayed their rivals. This has created fear and anxiety within Canada’s Liberal Party. They know that Iranian Canadians will stand behind the Conservatives, while the Liberals apparently have not produced, and do not possess, a particularly impressive or acceptable record.

This is an important sign that the world is gradually beginning to understand: The Iranian regime is on its way out, and it is time to think seriously about an alternative.

The mathematical curve of this equation suggests that others will eventually follow the same path. Gradually, the world’s major countries will come knocking on Pahlavi’s door, because there is no one else to whom responsibility for Iran can realistically be entrusted after the collapse; someone capable of preserving security during the transitional period, holding free elections, and allowing Iranian society to vote, choose, and reclaim its sovereignty.

Soon, countries around the world will be knocking on Pahlavi’s door, hoping to benefit from the opportunity and become economic partners in Iran’s future. He is the only credible figure in the Iranian opposition and the only serious political figure opposing the Iranian regime.

Some political figures prefer to deny the reality of the Iranian political landscape. But you cannot cover the sun with mud. Pahlavi is the only game in town.

Unfortunately, organizations such as the CIA still have little understanding of the destructive mind of the Shi’ite mullah. They have not read the mullah’s playbook. They refuse to accept that destruction, terrorism, and subversion will continue until the very last moment of this regime’s existence.

Tehran operates within the orbit of Moscow, Pyongyang, and Beijing. The United States will gain the upper hand only when it respects the demands, needs, and thinking of Iranian society. Yet the CIA still lacks the will for regime change.