This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
On the same day an Omani official invited Tehran and Washington to return to the negotiating table – Nov. 1 – Iran's foreign minister expressed readiness to resume discussions over the country's nuclear program.
However, such an act in past U.S.-Iran negotiations has often proven counterproductive, as it has always served to conceal the political and social realities inside Iran. The 2015 nuclear talks between Iran and the so-called P5+1 group (China, France, Russia, the UK, the U.S. and Germany), which likewise began under Omani mediation, ultimately left Tehran closer than ever to building a nuclear weapon.
President Donald Trump was justified in withdrawing from the nuclear deal (JCPOA) in 2018, since it not only failed to limit Iran's nuclear ambitions, but also released $150 billion in Iranian assets – funds that enabled the regime to accelerate its nuclear and missile programs, expand its regional proxy networks and deepen the economic misery of ordinary Iranians. By 2017, widespread poverty had already sparked a nationwide uprising.
Meanwhile, the Iranian regime continues to prevent Hezbollah from being disarmed and still provides financial and military support to Iraq's Hashd al-Shaabi and Yemen's Houthis. It has also concealed more than 400 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60% purity.
A regime sustained by repression and executions
Iran's clerical regime now stands on the edge of collapse. Rooted in medieval dogmas and propelled into the 21st Century by historical accident, it can survive only through repression at home and aggression abroad. This is why Tehran has tied its survival to its nuclear program.
To believe that Iran's rulers would voluntarily abandon their nuclear ambitions is nothing short of a delusion.
Losing strategic depth and facing its real enemy
The loss of strategic depth in Syria, the collapse of the so-called "axis of resistance" and severe setbacks in its nuclear program have brought the regime face-to-face with its true adversary: the Iranian people.
For years, the regime has tried to delay this confrontation by exporting crises abroad and fueling regional conflicts.
The leadership in Tehran knows another uprising is inevitable – only its timing remains uncertain. The next revolt will be driven by a generation of people who perceive a vast gap between the regime's official rhetoric and their lived reality. This disconnect has stripped the establishment of legitimacy and deepened public distrust.
'Crimes against humanity': Mass executions as a tool of suppression
At least 285 prisoners, including four women and one juvenile offender under the age of 18 at the time of their alleged crimes, were hanged in October 2025 alone. Such a high number of executions in a single month is unprecedented in recent decades and represents a new record of crime and brutality in the contemporary world. The number of executions this month is approximately 1.7 times that of 2024 (171 executions) and three times that of 2023 (92 executions).
Through this wave of executions, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei aims to prevent any uprising. The sharp increase in executions no longer signals power, but desperation – evidence that state violence has lost its deterrent effect and now exposes the regime's crumbling foundations.
A pattern of mass killing to preserve power
For nearly half a century, Iran's religious rulers have relied on mass killings to overcome major crises and ensure their survival. After years of declaring war with the battle cry "fight to the last house," when finally forced to accept a ceasefire in the Iran-Iraq War in 1988, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, ordered the execution of 30,000 political prisoners. Today, after a string of military and political failures, the regime once again appears ready to resort to mass bloodshed as its last means of survival.
'The war of wolves': Factional power struggles before an imminent uprising
As another nationwide uprising – and possibly the regime's downfall – looms, the issue of succession for the frail and aging Supreme Leader has fueled fierce infighting among Iran's ruling factions. Ordinary Iranians refer to this internal conflict as "the war of wolves."
Indeed, the regime has effectively split into two main blocs:
The first bloc, linked to former president Hassan Rouhani, ex-foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and others once close to Khamenei, who now see collapse as inevitable, advocates renewed negotiations with the United States to prolong the system's lifespan. Certain economic factions within the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) back this group.
The second bloc, loyal to Khamenei and the regime's hard core, rejects any compromise with Washington or retreat from the nuclear and missile programs, viewing such moves as the regime's premature death.
Power fractures: Harbingers of transition
In political science, a split within an authoritarian regime is among the clearest indicators – and catalysts – of a transition toward democracy. Simply put, such fractures signify the beginning of the end of the authoritarian order and the weakening of the machinery of repression.
However, engaging in deals, negotiations and appeasement with the global godfather of execution and terror is, many believe, tantamount to fueling the machinery of crime and slaughter of the religious fascists currently ruling Iran.
