“Factional Infighting Exposes Tehran’s Crisis, Not Its Strength”

As internal disputes within Iran’s ruling establishment escalate over negotiations with the United States, the Strait of Hormuz, and the nuclear file, it has become clear that this is not a normal political debate. It is a deep power struggle inside a regime facing an unprecedented strategic deadlock.

Ali Reza Jafarzadeh, Deputy Director of the Washington Office of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), said:

“The escalating infighting within the Iranian regime over negotiations and the Strait of Hormuz does not reflect political diversity; it exposes a crisis of survival. Each faction is trying to blame the other for failure, while the truth is that the entire regime is trapped between two bitter choices: retreat, which exposes its weakness, or escalation, which deepens its isolation and brings internal explosion closer.”

Jafarzadeh emphasized that “the hardline faction views any negotiation or limited agreement with Washington as a direct ideological threat, because it knows that concessions could shake the foundations on which the regime has built its rule. At the same time, the Pezeshkian–Ghalibaf camp seeks to use diplomacy to reduce pressure and buy time, not to resolve the crisis at its root.”

He added: “The real issue feared by all factions is not Washington or the Strait of Hormuz, but the Iranian street. As economic and social crises deepen, and as arrests and censorship expand, the regime increasingly understands that any internal crack could become the spark of a nationwide uprising.”

Jafarzadeh noted that “the regime’s attempts to conceal the details of negotiations and manage diplomacy behind closed doors reflect a double fear: fear of rival factions and, more importantly, fear of Iranian society, which sees these maneuvers as further proof of the regime’s inability to solve its crises.”

He stressed that “this scene once again proves that real reform is impossible within the structure of the velayat-e faqih system. The dispute between factions is not about the rights of the people or the future of Iran, but about preserving power and dividing influence and resources amid accelerating collapse.”

In this context, the major Iranian demonstration in Paris on June 20, 2026, carries special political significance, as it comes at a moment when the regime’s deadlock is deepening and the international community increasingly needs to hear the voice of the Iranian people and their organized democratic alternative.

Jafarzadeh concluded: “Iran’s future will not be decided through secret deals among regime factions or maneuvers over the Strait of Hormuz, but by the will of the Iranian people and their organized Resistance for a democratic republic that rejects both the clerical dictatorship and illusions of returning to the past.”