The High-Stakes Confrontation Between Trump and Khamenei
President Donald Trump doesn’t want conflict. Ayatollah Khamenei doesn’t want economic collapse. Yet that is where things are headed.
Put yourself in the shoes of Iran’s 80-year-old supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. His regime is beset by nearly 50 percent inflation, a collapsed currency, persistent labor strikes, and an irrepressible women’s-rights movement. Epic floods recently killed more than 75 people and caused nearly $3 billion in damage. A locust plague is threatening 300,000 hectares—$9 billion worth—of farming land. “Things have never been this bad” is a refrain commonly heard from Iran these days.
Beyond its borders, Iran is spending several billion dollars annually to arm and finance regional allies—including Syria’s Assad regime, Lebanese Hezbollah, Iraqi Shia militias, and the Houthis of Yemen—that offer little financial return on that investment. Direct between Tehran and Caracas have resumed so Iran can prop up the
