Ali Alfoneh

Iranians even more cynical about the future.

The Islamic Republic has been meddling in the internal affairs of Israel and has also tried to mobilize Israel's neighbors against it.

Israel is now doing exactly the same thing with Iran, trying to steer the ethnic minorities in the periphery regions against the central government in Iran.

So it's a tit for tat.

But unfortunately for Iran, Israel is this almost impenetrable country.

fortress, and Iran is not.

The borders are wide open.

The government of Israel fundamentally believes it is capable of overthrowing the government in Tehran, but they perhaps also believe it is possible to foment a civil war in Iran, and partition of Iran may be one of the objectives of some Israeli planners.

And should the opposition win, should the Islamic Republic collapse and, let's say, Mr. Reza Pahlavi take over power in Iran, I'm actually not sure that it would satisfy the government of Israel.

We have seen that the government of Israel was not happy with Mr. Shara taking power in Syria, despite Mr. Shara's best efforts to normalize relations with Israel.

And Israel is still continuing to undermine Syria.

I'm not seeing why Israel should treat Iran in a kinder way than it has treated Syria.

As of January 14th, I, Ali Alfone, believe that the Islamic Republic manages to contain and effectively suppress protests for a time.

But then these protests will flare up again because Iran's economic woes remain unresolved.

And therefore, the Islamic Republic has to reach an agreement with President Trump

and receive sanction relief.

So I do believe that this regime, its demise and collapse is neither imminent nor inevitable.

The regime will fight for its survival.

And one of those ways is a negotiated solution with President Trump.