Lisa Daftari, editor-in-chief of The Foreign Desk, said the deaths of Iran’s Islamic Republican President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and other regime officials “won’t move the needle too much” when it comes to sparking reform in the Middle East country.
The officials died as a result of a helicopter crash over the weekend, with reports indicating that weather may have played a role in the fatal accident.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has since commented on the matter, saying there would be “no disruption in the country’s operation” and public affairs “will carry on smoothly and orderly,” according to The Foreign Desk.
Daftari (pictured above) said the helicopter crash would not have much of an effect on a “macro-level” as the Iranian regime is a “system” and “ideology.”
“In a general sense, this won’t move the needle too much. We’re talking on a macro level. The regime is a system. It’s an ideology. The supreme leader Ali Khamenei – he’s a million years old. He has nine lives. He is still alive. If this were a hit on him, I think this would be a different conversation. It would be more significant. There’d be more chances of ‘Well, is the regime going to collapse right now?’ They have the vice president filling in for the president and they have already said that they will have elections within 50 days of the president’s death,” Daftari explained on Monday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.
When it comes to day-to-day operations, Daftari said the fatal accident came at a “weak moment” for the regime as it is fighting a “shadow war” against Israel through its proxy terrorist organizations.
“With regards to the micro level, this is a hit on the regime. Of course, they are very much into flexing. They tried to hide the details of the crash. They tried to pretend like everything was fine. They were hoping to find him. They were hoping that he didn’t die and really doing whatever they could to protect the story and not allow this hit on its president. They will do investigations. They may come out and say it was a joint effort by the CIA in Israel. They might just come out and say it was the United States. They might come out and say it was Israel. Either way, I do not believe that this was a hit. I do think this was just the fog and just the dangers of riding in a helicopter in that kind of weather and terrain,” Daftari said.
“In terms of it being somewhat of a weak moment, at a moment when they’re trying to flex the most, that’s where it will affect them. Right now, they were just weeks away from the Iran regime responding to Israel’s hit on their commanders in Syria. That’s when they, for the first time, responded with missile hits from Iranian soil towards Israel and the Israelis then responded. So they’re playing in this shadow war against Israel with their proxies: Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. So I think this, in terms of the day to day, is more of a hit, but I don’t think this is going to affect or bring about any regime change or any policy change or behavioral change from the regime,” Daftari added.
Since the fatal accident was confirmed by Iranian state media, regime officials have announced that elections will be held within 50 days to replace the deceased leaders.
Daftari said elections in Iran are nothing like those seen in the U.S., explaining how Iran’s Expediency Discernment Council of the System will vet and nominate “hardliner” candidates aligned with the regime’s ideology.
“An election in Iran is not an opportunity for change. It’s not what we as Americans think of where there’s multiple parties and people get to choose. Their expediency council, which is 12, basically Imams, the way that they are clergymen, they sit and they have to basically vet the candidates who are running for president. They only will choose the hardliners. They will only choose those who are cut from the same cloth,” Daftari said.
“Raisi, for example, was a protege of the Supreme Leader. The vice president as well is just as much of a hardliner as Raisi was. They will only choose candidates who are part of this system and part of this regime. So it’s not as though an election brings about this chance for change or even reform even though we’ve said for many years that reform doesn’t really mean anything when it comes to Iran’s regime because they’re all the same. They will continue the same hardline politics inside and outside the country,” Daftari added.
Daftari, noting how Iran’s population is notably young as there was a “big baby boom” in the aftermath of the Iran-Iraq war, also detailed that the fatal helicopter crash is being “rejoiced” by the country’s people as the majority of the population is “against the regime” and “disenchanted with the government.”
“We’re seeing fireworks all throughout Iran…That’s because they’re living with the daily pressures of a bad economy. They’re living under suppression of a regime that killed a 22-year-old woman for not wearing her hijab or headscarf properly. [The regime] is hanging and executing rappers and singers and poets just for speaking out and talking about freedom,” Daftari explained.
“If you want to know where the Middle East is headed, ask the people of Iran. They have had this experience for 45 years with radicalism taking over in the form of political Islam. Now you have actual terror organizations that are leading governments. I think that is a big wake up call. When you have the Taliban in Afghanistan, you have Hamas leading the Palestinian people, and you have people that are in the U.N. or on the streets of New York and L.A. and London or in the universities, our best universities, who don’t get this. I think it’s very damaging because we should listen to the Iranian people when they’re actually very happy that one of their hardliners is gone,” Daftari added.
Daftari also addressed foreign policy regarding Iran, specifically detailing the challenges a possible Trump presidency would face to “undo” the “damage that was done by the Biden administration” that emboldened the Middle Eastern country.
“It is very dangerous to have this flip flop foreign policy from one president to another. When it comes to our foreign policy, everything should be steady and predictable and our friends should know where they stand and our enemies should know where they stand. When you have Iran’s regime benefiting so much from the Obama and Biden administration…Of course they’re emboldened. Of course we’re watching them flex their muscles and pour money into their terror proxies like Hezbollah and Hamas and the Houthis. So they’re very rich right now. They think that they have the upper hand right now,” Daftari explained.
“So of course, this is why we see election interference because nations like the Islamic Republic of Iran know that it’s not good for them to have Donald Trump in office. Donald Trump stopped short of calling for regime change in Iran, but what he did do was implement what he called the ‘pressure campaign’ which was to freeze all Iranian assets and to put sanctions up the wazoo on sectors that were important like the sale of oil or collecting money from the central bank. He didn’t allow them to move forward with terror funding…Frankly, we didn’t see all the turmoil that we’re seeing right now in the Middle East under Donald Trump’s presidency, and that is because his stance, his posture on the Middle East was exactly that. It was no BS. He was not going to allow these terrorists to march forward. That’s why we’re seeing such a big and just a drastic difference in those two styles of presidency,” Daftari said.
Daftari also noted that the Biden administration’s emboldening of Iran also sparks confidence in other nations, specifically mentioning China when it comes to invading Taiwan.
“Now, if Donald Trump comes back, it will be very challenging to undo the damage that was done by the Biden administration. It’s not easy to collect the money. It’s not easy to stop those terror organizations that already have the missiles we’re talking about. Hezbollah, for example, which is the most well endowed terror organization that Iran’s regime is funding, they have 150,000-200,000 missiles pointing at Israel right now, at this moment. I think it’s going to be a very interesting few months until the election, because if you’re China, why wouldn’t you invade Taiwan? If you’re Iran, why wouldn’t you unleash Hezbollah’s fury on Israel?” Daftari said.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Lisa Daftari” by Lisa Daftari.
