[hnthrowaway0315]

If the hard-liners IRGC generals went with him then it might be a good thing for its economy. I have heard some rumors that China was frustrated that IRGC pushed against the deals and were not willing to accept foreign investments in key oil/infra projects because they sit on them -- and that was why China never put down any real investments after signing the deals.

[eunos]

IRGC or whatever succeed next should wise themselves and stop hedging about whatever next deal with US/EU.

[hnthrowaway0315]

I think the biggest problem of IRGC is that they grabbed a large share of economy but spent a lot of that in geopolitical expansion for the last 1-2 decades. This in turn contributed to a more fragile Iranian economy and high inflation, which makes them extremely unpopular among the people.

[estearum]

No matter who steps up, Trump's actions make clear they have only two options:

1. Permanent subjugation to western countries, to be unilaterally abused whenever they felt like it, or

2. Race to the nuke as fast and as secretly as possible

[underlipton]

Why would a regime that came to be, ultimately, precisely because of foreign meddling in resource extraction ever entertain more foreign meddling in resource extraction, especially when it's levered with "or else we'll kill you."?