Mullahs: We’re Afraid of Trump

Someone leaked to the Telegraph a “regime policy planning document” written for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. It relates to the possibility that Donald Trump may once again be the U.S. President:

Iran is plotting to infiltrate Donald Trump’s team amid fears he could topple its regime, according to a secret dossier.

The Telegraph has obtained a regime policy planning document which reveals Tehran’s five-point strategy to woo figures close to the Republican candidate’s camp in an attempt to soften his stance on the Islamic Republic.

The 120-page dossier, entitled “US Re-Trumpization 2024,” expresses fears over how Trump could “adopt a maximum pressure policy against Iran,” including limiting its control of the Middle East and ending relationships with Russia and Saudi Arabia, if he regains the White House.

Trump has said that he intends to re-institute the “maximum pressure” policy.

It cites a renewed American focus on Tehran because of its support for Hamas, Hezbollah and Houthi terror groups in the year following the October 7 attack on Israel.

“They realized their assessments were incorrect and that Iran continues to support resistance groups,” the document reads.

“Their assessments” evidently are those of the Biden administration, and perhaps the U.S. foreign policy establishment, not Donald Trump.

Trump, who is described by Iran as “the frontrunner in the 2024 United States election,” is considered a particular threat because of previously hostile policies towards the Islamic Republic, including sanctioning the assassination of Qassem Soleimani, its top general, in 2020.

The mullahs fear Trump, based on experience.

We have believed this all along, but it is nice to see it confirmed:

Tehran felt that it was caught off guard ahead of Trump’s 2016 election victory, having planned for a White House led by Hillary Clinton maintaining Barack Obama’s cordial approach to relations with Iran.

So Iran, like the American press, is doing what it can to drag Kamala Harris across the finish line:

The Islamic Republic has been previously accused of attempting to hack Mr. Trump’s campaign and setting up phony websites targeting African-American and Muslim voters in the critical state of Michigan in an attempt to sway the election against Trump.

Of course, the Democrats’ concern with foreign “interference” in our elections is highly selective.

The plan outlined in the policy planning document involves identifying and trying to influence a number of people who are associated with Trump:

The plan to “neutralize” the threat posed by Trump, according to the Iranian document, involves lobbying hundreds of former administration officials and think tanks close to the Republican candidate.

It contains the names and pictures of around 300 officials, judges and municipal politicians considered close to the former president.

“It is necessary to identify individuals who are expected to be appointed as secretary of state, national security adviser and head of the Iran program in the new US administration before their appointments,” the Iranian strategy dictates.

“Additionally, the close associates of these individuals should be identified to better and more quickly influence them.”

I think we can say with confidence that that plan won’t work. But this last approach sounds more promising:

Iran also highlights plans to create a “network of elites” in the US who are capable of influencing Trump’s potential government.

A “network of elites” already exists, and it can be used not to influence Trump’s administration, should there be one, but rather to doggedly oppose all of Trump’s efforts to weaken and overthrow the mullahs’ regime, and to defend and advance the interests of our Middle Eastern allies.

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