by Ahmed Charai
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is no longer merely the guardian of doctrine; it has become the armed protector of an economic empire.... The men who command repression at home and escalation abroad are defending privileges and fortunes accumulated over decades.
[Iran] is not a normal state pursuing normal interests. It is a mafia state hiding its aggression behind ideology, proxies, negotiations, and delay. It respects neither international law nor the sovereignty of its neighbors — not even the Gulf states that tried to preserve "mediation" channels.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is no longer merely the guardian of doctrine; it has become the armed protector of an economic empire.... The men who command repression at home and escalation abroad are defending privileges and fortunes accumulated over decades.
Tehran's maneuver is... trying to shift attention from the central danger — its nuclear program — toward a parallel crisis over Hormuz. By multiplying fronts and threatening energy markets, Tehran believes it can confuse Washington, divide allies, and buy time.
Alliances have tensions. Leaders disagree. But no one should confuse a moment of frustration with the depth of the American-Israeli relationship. That bond is stronger than any single president, prime minister, or political season
Tehran is linking regional de-escalation to the survival of its terrorist infrastructure. It is telling the world: if Israel acts against Hezbollah, Iran will escalate elsewhere. That is not diplomacy. That is blackmail.... To let Tehran connect a ceasefire with protection for Hezbollah is to accept that a terrorist organization can veto regional order.
President Donald Trump has given Iran a chance for peace. By attacking Kuwait and Bahrain, Iran has given him its answer.
A passenger terminal is not a battlefield. An airport is not a military front. A civilian killed in Kuwait is not a statistic. It is a warning.
Iran's strike on facilities in Kuwait, including Kuwait International Airport, and its missile launches toward Bahrain — intercepted by US and Bahraini forces — must be understood in context. They came while Trump was still giving Tehran an opportunity to step back from escalation and return to the framework of international law. The regime's answer was not compromise, but escalation.
The Kuwait and Bahrain Strikes Underscore Iranian Duplicity
This is not a normal state pursuing normal interests. It is a mafia state hiding its aggression behind ideology, proxies, negotiations, and delay. It respects neither international law nor the sovereignty of its neighbors — not even the Gulf states that tried to preserve "mediation" channels.
The moniker of "mafia state" is not rhetorical excess. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is no longer merely the guardian of doctrine; it has become the armed protector of an economic empire. Through energy contracts, shadow finance, oil sales, ports, and sanctions-evasion networks, the regime's military elite has tied its survival to power and wealth. Its struggle is no longer only ideological. It is personal. The men who command repression at home and escalation abroad are defending privileges and fortunes accumulated over decades. Like every mafia, they confuse the survival of the organization with the survival of the nation.
The regime now threatens the Gulf, Israel, American forces, maritime commerce, and the principle that civilian life must never become leverage. When drones and missiles are launched toward Kuwait and Bahrain, when Hormuz becomes an arena of coercion, and when Hezbollah's survival is folded into Tehran's bargaining position, the world is witnessing Iran's architecture of intimidation.
America and Its Allies Must Stay United
Tehran's maneuver is transparent: it is trying to shift attention from the central danger — its nuclear program — toward a parallel crisis over Hormuz. By multiplying fronts and threatening energy markets, Tehran believes it can confuse Washington, divide allies, and buy time.
The United States is not a reactive power shaped by a single news cycle. It is a democratic nation with enduring institutions, intelligence capabilities, military reach, diplomatic alliances, and economic leverage.
Tehran may hide behind proxies, denials, and manufactured crises, but Washington can see the pattern clearly: nuclear coercion, regional destabilization, terrorist sponsorship, and maritime extortion.
Yet too much commentary has drifted toward a secondary drama: a reportedly heated exchange between Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But gossip about personalities will not protect Kuwait's civilians, reopen Hormuz, disarm Hezbollah, or reassure America's allies.
Alliances have tensions. Leaders disagree. But no one should confuse a moment of frustration with the depth of the American-Israeli relationship. That bond is stronger than any single president, prime minister, or political season. Fairness also requires clarity about Trump: warm, direct, sometimes harsh, but undeniably important to Israel through Jerusalem, the US embassy, the Golan Heights, and the Abraham Accords.
Tehran is linking regional de-escalation to the survival of its terrorist infrastructure. It is telling the world: if Israel acts against Hezbollah, Iran will escalate elsewhere. That is not diplomacy. That is blackmail. Hezbollah is not simply a Lebanese faction; it is an armed ideological instrument tied to Iran's regional strategy. To let Tehran connect a ceasefire with protection for Hezbollah is to accept that a terrorist organization can veto regional order.
This editorial originally appeared in the National Interest
Ahmed Charai is the Chairman and CEO of World Herald
Tribune, Inc., and the publisher of the Jerusalem Strategic Tribune, TV
Abraham, and Radio Abraham. He serves on the boards of several prominent
institutions, including the Atlantic Council, the Center for the
National Interest, the Foreign Policy Research Institute, and the
International Crisis Group. He is also an International Councilor and a
member of the Advisory Board at the Center for Strategic and
International Studies.
Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/22583/iran-mafia-state
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