Even strategic patience has limits

Iran is acting as if it stands alone in the world, and perhaps even as if it dominates it. That is the central criticism of this article, which portrays the country’s leadership as a collection of separate islands speaking with conflicting voices.

When the subject is peace and ending the war, some voices recognize that there is no way out other than a memorandum of understanding with the United States. Other voices reject peace and such an agreement, arguing that force can only be confronted with force and that Iran can overcome the world’s most powerful country and its allies.

Meanwhile, the article says, most Iranians watch in silence as their country faces destruction, crushing pressure, siege and sanctions on a scale it describes as unmatched in the history of nations and peoples. It cites former Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s formulation that either the people want war or they do not, and says a referendum would make their position clear.

The article argues that Iranians do not want a war that lasts for decades and destroys everything around them. But it says the Iranian Revolutionary Guard will allow nothing except the continuation of the war and the launch of missiles.