WP:

President Hassan Rouhani, second from left, with other Iranian leaders in Tehran on June 4. (HO/AFP/Getty Images) A long-standing myth among Iran hawks is that there are no internal politics in Iran. There are only varying shades of Islamist. By any secular standards, that is, of course, true. But remember, we’re talking about a theocracy. The leaders of the Islamic republic are not trying to hide that fact from anyone. It’s in the name. Let’s reflect for a moment and agree, I hope, that theocracies — governments rooted in religious law with clerics holding the bulk of decision-making powers — are a relic of the past that can’t stand up to time or scrutiny. The narrative about monolithic Iranian ...

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