Sohrab Ahmari, the US editor of UnHerd, has offered a striking analysis of the Iranian regime’s resilience during the ongoing conflict, drawing on his unique vantage point as someone born under the Islamic Republic.
Speaking to GB News, Mr Ahmari explained that he approaches the situation through two distinct but increasingly aligned perspectives.
“As an Iranian who experienced what it’s like to live under the Iranian theocracy, in theory, in a kind of abstract way, I can look at the operation and think, well, maybe this means that the regime that’s ruled Iran ever since I was born will go away somehow, or we’ll be dramatically transformed, and I’ll get to visit the old country,” he said.
He added: “But, you know, I haven’t been back in in several decades. So that has a kind of abstract quality to me.”
The UnHerd Editor was particularly critical of presidential rhetoric about returning Iran to its people.
“To hear the president talk about handing Iran back to its people so they can control their own destiny, this sort of it’s like taking a time travel machine back to 2003 and it’s Follies,” he said.
Mr Ahmari offered a detailed breakdown of Iranian public opinion, whilst acknowledging he cannot speak definitively for a nation of 90 million people in a polarised society.
He estimated between 10 and 20 per cent of the population genuinely believes in the Islamic Republic’s mission, viewing the regime as a form of divine revelation.
Sohrab Ahmari has told GB News that the Iranian regime is ‘not collapsing’ after surviving the ‘ultimate stress test’
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GB NEWS
“To some extent, I and others, I would say, have been slightly surprised by their social strength, by their durability,” he admitted.
The conflict has triggered a nationalist response that Mr Ahmari believes has shifted this centrist majority back towards the Government.
“There has been a rally around the flag effect, because Iranians are very nationalistic,” he observed.
He said: “It’s this idea of preserving Iran’s territorial integrity and certain sites that are like historic sites in cities like Isfahan, hundreds or hundreds year old mosques and and sort of public squares and so on that are very ornately decorated in that kind of Persian style that have been damaged.”
President Donald Trump has suggested the war in Iran could be coming to an end
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REUTERSThe analyst suggested that threats to territorial integrity and cherished monuments have united citizens who might otherwise harbour deep reservations about their rulers, effectively providing the Islamic Republic with a nationalist shield during its most precarious moment.
Mr Ahmari concluded the Islamic Republic has effectively weathered what he described as the ultimate test of its survival.
“Think about from their point of view, all they care about, the Islamic Republic, is regime perpetuation,” he said.
“That’s what they live. That’s what they wake up thinking about.”
Sohrab Ahmari told GB News it is a ‘remarkable regime durability’
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GB NEWS
From this perspective, the theocracy has confronted both a nuclear superpower and a regional nuclear-armed state whilst maintaining its grip on power.
“They’re holding on, and the regime isn’t collapsing. There hasn’t been any visible collapse in public authority,” Mr Ahmari noted.
He pointed to footage showing ordinary street scenes with security forces present and calm prevailing, despite smoke visible on the horizon from military strikes.
“I think what we’re looking at is almost, to me, shocking, maybe to you as well. But to me, it’s like remarkable regime durability,” he concluded.
