{"id":1244,"date":"2026-05-31T04:38:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T04:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shahvand.org\/en\/?p=1244"},"modified":"2026-06-01T05:01:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T05:01:09","slug":"iran-the-onion-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shahvand.org\/en\/iran-the-onion-state\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran: The Onion State"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Iran\u2019s Onion Structure of Power. By Raghu Kondori, in \u201cThe Jerusalem Strategic Tribune\u201d<!--more--><\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\">Understanding Iran requires moving beyond conventional analytical frameworks, which have too often led to strategic misreadings of the country\u2019s complex system. In this in-depth analysis published in the Jerusalem Strategic Tribune, Iranian-French author and filmmaker Raghu Kondori offers a powerful metaphor: that of an \u201conion state,\u201d made up of successive layers of power, in which visible institutions represent only one part of a far deeper architecture. <\/span><span class=\"r-18u37iz\"><a class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1loqt21\" dir=\"ltr\" role=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hashtag\/JSTribune?src=hashtag_click\">#JSTribune<\/a><\/span> <span class=\"r-18u37iz\"><a class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1loqt21\" dir=\"ltr\" role=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hashtag\/JSTWorldWatch?src=hashtag_click\">#JSTWorldWatch<\/a><\/span> <span class=\"r-18u37iz\"><a class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1loqt21\" dir=\"ltr\" role=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hashtag\/Iran?src=hashtag_click\">#Iran<\/a><\/span> <span class=\"r-18u37iz\"><a class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1loqt21\" dir=\"ltr\" role=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hashtag\/OnionState?src=hashtag_click\">#OnionState<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Iran: The Onion State\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fnDxLIDIv2g?start=15&amp;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>m<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-1245\" src=\"https:\/\/shahvand.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/05\/onionState-300x170.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"170\" srcset=\"https:\/\/shahvand.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/05\/onionState-300x170.jpg 300w, https:\/\/shahvand.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/05\/onionState-768x434.jpg 768w, https:\/\/shahvand.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/05\/onionState-800x450.jpg 800w, https:\/\/shahvand.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/05\/onionState.jpg 829w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Iran\u2019s Onion Structure of Power. By Raghu Kondori, in \u201cThe Jerusalem Strategic Tribune\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1245,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[12,258,25],"class_list":["post-1244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-video-podcast","tag-iran","tag-irans-onion-structure","tag-raghu-kondori"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Iran: The Onion State - Shahvand think tank<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Iran: The Onion State. Iran\u2019s Onion Structure of Power. 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