Iran faces uncertain future after its grinding war with Israel

“Iran’s leadership has been dealt a heavy blow and will be conscious of preserving the ceasefire, which gives the regime breathing room and allows space to focus on internal security and reconstruction,” the Eurasia Group said in an analysis Wednesday. In an open letter last weekend, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi wrote that “the Islamic Republic is a religious, authoritarian, and misogynistic regime — incapable of reform and systematically violating the fundamental rights of the Iranian people.” Under the Islamic Republic, leading Shiite clerics stand at the top of the hierarchy, drawing the lines to which the civilian government, the military and intelligence and security establishment must submit.