The US-Iran war has bolstered hardliners’ influence inside Iran’s government and
weakened factions favoring negotiation, George Washington University Middle East
politics assistant professor Sina Azodi said. Azodi identified pro-negotiation
actors — the foreign ministry, chief nuclear negotiator Ghalibaf, and some IRGC
units — who view Iran as having won the conflict but prefer striking a deal to
stabilize the situation; hardliners instead seek to use wartime gains to push
the US out of the region. He said Iran’s historically slow, factional
decision-making has shifted and those advocating more confrontation now hold
greater power and influence.
