Protest in Basra, Iraq, against the killing of Iranian Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, March 2, 2026. Photo: AA/ABACA / Abaca Press / Profimedia
The attack by the US and Israel on Iran may be the beginning of a change, believes university professor Ioan Stanomir, in an opinion text that HotNews publishes: “The conciliatoryism of the past is no longer an option. The theocratic Iran of now is not only the enemy of Israel and the United States. It is the implacable enemy of all nations.”
The attack launched by Israel and the United States is the only response that can be received by the challenge represented by the Islamic Republic of Iran. A criminal regime, a theocratic regime and a terrorist regime, prepared to massacre its own citizens, the Islamic Republic of Iran is the state that has made the acquisition of nuclear weapons a goal that could not be abandoned. And this is because the possession of an atomic weapon, capable of being launched from a rocket, would have marked reaching the threshold beyond which Iran became untouchable.
Nuclear and ballistic weapons are the tool used by a regime whose ambition is to fulfill a prophecy: the destruction of Israel and the United States.
The confrontation now is the consequence of the hesitations and complicities of the past. It is the Obama administration that allowed theocratic Iran to be in its current position. The agreements concluded were also evidence of strategic weakness. Theocratic Iran never intended to embark on the path of compromise. By the very revolutionary nature of his ideology, he is determined to go all the way. The current war is the culmination of a trajectory that began in 1979.
The captive people
The elimination of Ali Khamenei is the elimination of a tyrant. Those who deplore him only ignore his legacy. Like the founder of Islamic totalitarianism, Khomeini, Ali Khamenei is the creator of an order of fanaticism, aggression and pauperization. The Iranian nation is captive to a wicked dream of building a world based on the dictates of political religion.
Khamenei's last act was to order the bloody suppression of the uprisings in January 2026. His long career as a tyrant was crowned by this sinister peak of cruelty.
The Iran dreamed of by Khomeini and Khamenei is a mortal threat not only to the state of Israel. Its destructive mission extends beyond this symbolic line of state anti-Semitism. His revolutionary eschatology grants theocratic Iran a mission of continuous war. For nearly five decades, the Islamic-fascist dictatorship has waged a campaign against the United States and other Western nations.
The vision of Islamic Iran has always been one based on confrontation and radicalism. His revolution needs a global projection.
The oil that feeds Chinese imperialism
Theocratic Iran is part of the revisionist axis: its alliance with Russia, China and North Korea is the keystone of a hegemonic policy. The drones with which the regime in Tehran attacks the cities in the Gulf are the ones with which Russia attacks Ukraine. The oil exported by the Iranians is what feeds Chinese imperialism.
This is why the war now is invested with a dramatic stake. And this stake is the nature of the regional and global future. A theocratic Iran that would survive and have access to a nuclear weapon would be a central piece in the power system of China and Russia. A nuclear-equipped theocratic Iran would replicate North Korea's blackmail behavior.
Political planning within a military conflict should never be ignored. The strategic mistakes in Iraq cannot be repeated here. Any compromise that would allow the continuation of a military program similar to the current one would be a defeat. Is regime change possible? This is the question that the American administration cannot avoid, even if the references to it are rather contradictory. The riots of January 2026 were a sign of hostility towards the clerical dictatorship. But removing the entire regime is complicated. Between continuity and chaos, a path of strategic balance is needed.
Khamenei's death is not the end of this regime
But this attack may be the beginning of a change. The conciliationism of the past is no longer an option. Today's theocratic Iran is not only the enemy of Israel and the United States. He is the implacable enemy of all nations that do not accept his aggressive and hegemonic vocation. For the Gulf states, as well as for Europe, Iranian aggression is a direct threat.
The death of the dictator Ali Khamenei is not the end of this regime, but it may be the beginning of a course of mutation and transformation. Beyond the military confrontation now lies a still diffuse political future: uncertainty is the sign of our times.
