Even if President Trump delivered his prime-time speech on the Iran conflict on Wednesday night with the intention of projecting control, he exposed a fundamental contradiction in the process.
In a move that seemed to signal the end of the war, the president of the United States said that Iran’s navy, air force, missile program, and nuclear enrichment facilities had been mostly destroyed. But he also threatened to escalate the situation even further in the next weeks.
The end result is a message that isn’t sure what it is: triumph announced, but not achieved. Back to the stone ages, where they belong” was his threat to strike Iran, further infusing the hyperbole.
That comment has real-world consequences in Iran, inflaming social media outrage even among opposition supporters who saw Trump as a change agent in the past. Some feel even more besieged by the government as a result, rather than the system being pushed to its limits.
There has been no change to the structure of power in Tehran. The office of the supreme leader is still the source of authority, but the extent to which direct control is really exerted is unclear, especially given the current state of affairs.
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