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As negotiations between the United States and Iran enter a critical phase, a small but influential hardline faction has stepped up its efforts to undermine a potential deal with Washington, CNN reports.
And as the Islamic Republic's new leaders are trying to project an image of unity in the face of the most serious existential threat the regime has ever faced, this hardline group has intensified its activities in the media, in parliament and on the streets, promoting opposition to a deal with the US and arguing that only by defeating Washington can Iran secure a favorable deal.
Known as the “Jebhe-ye Paydari,” or Resistance Front, its members are often described by analysts and international observers as “Super-Revolutionaries,” who see themselves as defenders of the values of the 1979 revolution that overthrew the pro-Western Shah before imposing an authoritarian regime based on Shiite Islamist ideology.
" They see resistance to the United States and Israel as an eternal struggle. They believe in a Shiite state that must continue to exist until the end of time, and they are quite fanatical when it comes to this religious ideology ," Hamidreza Azizi, a researcher at the German Institute for International and Security Studies, told CNN.
Over the past month, Iranian officials have carefully balanced negotiations with Trump with the need to appease powerful factions in the country’s complex political landscape, including the Paydari group. The group’s participation in talks with U.S. negotiators in Pakistan last month suggested Tehran was seeking to show internal cohesion. However, the group has become so critical of the negotiators that experts believe it prompted Trump to describe Iran’s leadership as “fragmented” and “disorganized” last month.
Iran's leaders, including new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, have tried to project an image of unity in the wake of Trump's claim, but the hardline group continues to sow division, accusing negotiators of lacking trust in the Islamic Republic and of violating Khamenei's "red lines" in the negotiations. Many within the group see even considering a deal with the United States as an act of withdrawal, the report said.
Members of the group oppose negotiations with the US due to deep religious and ideological beliefs. They have accused Iranian officials of showing "cowardice" by engaging in talks that would cause "great harm to the Iranian nation."
“They (the US) understood that killing our leaders, our commanders and our loved ones costs them nothing. They understood that even if our Imam (Ali Khamenei) is martyred, there are still groups here willing to negotiate, shake hands with Steve Witkoff, JD Vance and Jared Kushner and smile at the killers of our martyred Imam ,” said an article criticizing the talks in Raja News, a media outlet representing the Paydari Front.
The faction is considered so radical that even hardliners within Iran's conservative establishment view it as peripheral. However, Jebhe-ye Paydari is integrated into some of the country's most powerful centers of power and includes senior figures in Iranian media, leading politicians who were once leading presidential candidates.
Increasingly isolated
The group's growing visibility and its efforts to sow discord have raised alarm among many within the country, with efforts to isolate it intensifying.
Iran's political spectrum has long been divided, with its leaders clashing over state policies and differing approaches to the West. However, Jebhe-ye Paydari has become so divisive at this critical moment that even rival Iranian politicians have united against it.
“ It seems like it has finally backfired. They are making a lot of noise and are seen as helping Israel and the US portray Iran as a country with serious internal divisions… but the fringe radicals are facing backlash from all directions and have become increasingly isolated ,” said Mohammad Ali Shabani, editor-in-chief of Amwaj.media, a news website focused on Iran.
Shabani argues that hardliners are not necessarily against a deal with the US, but they want to be the ones to achieve it in order to strengthen their influence and reshape the power structures in the country./ CNN
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