Iran Supreme Leader driving regime towards "collapse," says IRGC

An icon no more? Iran Supreme Leader Ali Khameini. — Photo: Attila JANDI/Shutterstock

Several commanders in Iran's revolutionary IRGC force are reportedly trying to get Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to reverse his religious ban on nuclear weapons, according to unnamed sources speaking with the Telegraph.

These commanders believe Khamenei is pushing the regime towards collapse due to his ban on negotiating with the United States over its nuclear weapons program, a decision made more pressing with the election of Donald Trump as American President.

While Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has expressed an interest in talks with the United States, Khamenei nixed the idea, accusing the United States of being untrustworthy after Donald Trump left the nuclear deal reached by President Barack Obama in 2018, according to Iran International.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi echoed this sentiment by saying that Iran would never negotiate from a "position of weakness" such as the "maximum pressure" sanctions on Iran, which President Trump reinstated last week.

Araghchi claimed that Iran had negotiated repeatedly in good faith but that this only resulted in more pressure or actions which Iran viewed as a betrayal of negotiations.

For his part, President Trump said that while the "maximum pressure" sanctions he was reimposing were "very tough" on Iran, Iran was simply too close to possessing nuclear weapons, something he could not allow.

Previously, the President had voiced his interest in a deal with Iran, saying that it would be "nice" if the United States and Iran could reach a deal on Iran's nuclear project without Israel having to launch an air strike targeted at its facilities meant for developing nuclear weapons.

Iran has long insisted that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. However, multiple western countries including the United States, Britain, France, and Germany have noted that Iran has taken several steps including warhead development and uranium enrichment which only make sense for weapons development, not energy or research.