Iran Chooses US Confrontation Over Peace to Distract Growing Domestic Unrest, Analyst Says
Human-rights activist Majid Sadeghpour says Iran prefers ongoing conflict with the United States to keep its population distracted from economic-driven unrest.
According to human-rights activist Majid Sadeghpour, the Iranian regime is deliberately prolonging conflict with the United States and its Gulf neighbors to suppress internal dissent sparked by economic collapse and strict religious policies. He points to recent US airstrikes and attacks on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, despite offers of guarantees that the US would not pursue regime change. Sadeghpour says the real threat to the regime is popular uprising, not foreign bombs, and that the war helps redirect public focus.
Vice President JD Vance criticized Iran’s diminishing control over the strait, while President Donald Trump dismissed any peace deal as worthless. Sadeghpour concludes that US strategy should target the Iranian populace rather than the regime itself.
Why it matters
It reveals how external conflict may be used to suppress domestic protests, shaping regional stability and US policy.
How this story developed
- Aug 23 Iran readies major fuel price hike amid US sanctions and war pressures
- Aug 30 The United States hit Lark Island in southern Iran, targeting rocket launchers, marking its first attack on the country since late July.
- Aug 30 Treasury filed a draft regulation that could block the UAE branches of Banque Misr from U.S. correspondent banking.
- Aug 31 Bessent announced that secondary sanctions will be issued on a weekly basis.
- Aug 31 Iranian media claimed a bulk carrier was seized and an oil supertanker hit mines, while U.S. officials said no vessels were struck.
- Sep 1 President Trump posted an AI‑generated video showing a fictitious bombing of Iran’s Kharg Island.
- Sep 1 Following a U.S. strike on Iranian rocket launchers near Larak Island and an Iranian attack on American forces in Jordan, President Trump said the United States would respond forcefully but not launch a full-scale war. At the same time, a South Korean-owned tanker and a Saudi-flagged vessel were struck near the Strait of Hormuz, which Marisks described as likely coordinated attacks. The incidents pushed Brent crude above $92 a barrel and U.S. crude near $88, and Trump is scheduled to meet refinery executives about rising gasoline costs.
- Sep 2 Daily fuel deficit of about 15 million litres reported.
- Sep 2 U.S. conducts a second wave of strikes on Iranian infrastructure.
- Sep 2 Donald Trump suggested on Truth Social that the strategic Strait of Hormuz be renamed 'Trump Strait' while the United States maintains control of the waterway.
- Sep 2 A White House social‑media post now shows a map labeling the waterway as "Trump Strait."
- Sep 3 Iran's army claimed radar systems and locations where American forces were stationed at the UAE's Al Minhad Air Base were attacked with missiles and drones.
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