|
Trending Topics
|
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/12/world/middleeast/iran-united-states-hard-liners.html
Hard-Liners in Iran Want to Keep Fighting America
(New York Times) Neil MacFarquhar - The prominence of red flags - a Shiite Muslim symbol for vengeance - among the mourners attending the weeklong funeral of Iran's late supreme leader was considered a statement that the country should continue its 47-year confrontation with the U.S. The hard-liners "are attempting to use the atmosphere of mourning, national insecurity and opposition to negotiations to narrow the range of politically acceptable debate and to portray compromise as both strategically dangerous and morally illegitimate," said Saeid Golkar, a professor at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, who studies Iran's security forces. Hossein Shariatmadari, editor of the Kayhan newspaper, whose columns often reflect hard-line thinking, wrote a front-page editorial last week titled "We Want Trump's Head," which demanded that the government declare the U.S. president a legitimate target and offer a hefty reward for his killing. Hard-line regime supporters are generally estimated at up to 20% of Iran's 93 million population.