Iran’s good cop, bad cop game implodes as experts warn regime views US as 'evil'

Days aft Iran’s enactment projected a unified front, undermining the long-cited moderate-vs.-hardliner divide, President Donald Trump canceled planned talks with Tehran successful Islamabad, Pakistan, citing "infighting and confusion" wrong the regime.

Iranian-American experts reason that societal media posts from Iran’s caller Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, President Masoud Pezeshkian and different cardinal officials uncover that the "good cop, atrocious cop" maneuver that the authorities exploited to deceive adversaries and unafraid generous concessions successful atomic negotiations has collapsed.

In a Truth Social station connected Saturday, Trump announced helium canceled the trip, citing "too overmuch clip wasted connected traveling" and "too overmuch work!"

"Besides which, determination is tremendous infighting and disorder wrong their ‘leadership,'" the president added, noting "nobody knows who is successful charge, including them."

President Donald Trump speaks from the Cross Hall of the White House successful Washington, D.C., connected April 1, 2026, updating the federation connected the warfare successful Iran. (Getty Images)

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"Also, we person each the cards, they person none!" Trump wrote. "If they privation to talk, each they person to bash is call!!!"

The implosion of the hardline-moderate dichotomy wrong the authorities could person profound consequences for Trump’s attack to the atomic talks successful Islamabad, experts said. Trump appeared to allude to a blurry disagreement betwixt factions wrong Iran past week.

"Iran is having a precise hard clip figuring retired who their person is! They conscionable don’t know! The infighting is betwixt the ‘Hardliners,’ who person been losing BADLY connected the battlefield, and the ‘Moderates,’ who are not precise mean astatine each (but gaining respect!), and it is CRAZY!" Trump wrote successful an X station Thursday.

Mojtaba Khamenei, the caller ultimate person of Iran and 2nd lad of the precocious Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, attends a gathering successful Tehran, Iran. (Hamed Jafarnejad/ISNA/WANA/Reuters)

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Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei rapidly fired back, claiming "due to the unusual unity created among compatriots, a fracture has occurred successful the enemy."

"With applicable gratitude for this blessing, cohesion has go adjacent greater and much steel-like, and the enemies volition go much wretched and diminished," Khamenei wrote successful a reply. "The enemy's media operations, by targeting the minds and psyches of the people, mean to undermine nationalist unity and security; whitethorn our negligence not let this sinister intent to travel to fruition."

Mariam Memarsadeghi, a elder chap astatine The Macdonald-Laurier Institute and laminitis and manager of the Cyrus Forum for Iran's Future, told Fox News Digital the Islamic Republic has, for decades, fooled Western policymakers by sending moderates to negotiations arsenic a "window dressing for its panic and subjugation."

A poster of Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei is pasted connected a motorcycle windshield arsenic authorities supporters stitchery successful Tehran connected April 9, 2026, marking the 40th time since the sidesplitting of his father, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. (Vahid Salemi/AP)

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The officials would past archer their counterparts that they are nether unit from hardliners, implying that the West indispensable marque concessions to fortify them internally.

"Because of the war, the Trump medication is successful a remarkably advantageous concern vis-à-vis the imperial panic state, 1 ne'er earlier attempted, overmuch little achieved," Memarsadeghi said. "But each clip Trump says authorities alteration has already happened, helium denies America the accidental to finally, genuinely beryllium escaped of the world’s apical sponsor of panic and the existential menace it poses not conscionable to the radical of Iran but to each the world."

Navid Mohebbi, who worked arsenic a Persian media expert for the State Department's Public Affairs Bureau, cautioned that portion rivalries and factions bash beryllium wrong the Islamic Republic, they are agreed connected the regime’s halfway principles.

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"Their disagreements are chiefly implicit tactics, not cardinal direction," Mohebbi told Fox News Digital, stressing that existent decision-making powerfulness successful Iran has ever rested with the ultimate person and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

"So-called moderates person ne'er had the last accidental connected cardinal strategical issues and are often utilized to soften the regime’s representation abroad," helium said. "From the position of the Iranian people, determination has been small difference. Across administrations labeled 'moderate' oregon 'hardline,' the strategy has consistently relied connected repression."

Mohebbi cited the illustration of Iranian authorities President Hassan Rouhani, who presented himself arsenic a moderate, but whose information forces violently killed 1,500 protesters during the November 2019 uprising.

Members of information forces ticker implicit the assemblage during a ceremonial procession for IRGC Navy Chief Alireza Tangsiri and different elder naval commanders killed successful U.S.-Israeli strikes successful precocious March successful Tehran, Iran, connected April 1, 2026. (Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)

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"The aforesaid signifier has continued nether Masoud Pezeshkian successful the January 2026 protestation massacre, reinforcing the world that these labels person not translated into meaningful alteration connected the ground," helium said.

A determination official, however, insisted determination are clashes betwixt moderates and hardliners successful Iran. The authoritative told Fox News Digital that Pezeshkian is simply a moderate, but helium "could not adjacent marque bully connected his run committedness regarding net freedom. To beryllium honest, he’s not adjacent been capable to bash s---."

"The associated absorption by the heads of the 3 branches of powerfulness was successful effect to Trump’s notation to the contented of rift, and besides to the information that determination are so hardliners and moderates," the authoritative added. "Look, whenever Iran wants to marque concessions, they propulsion moderates nether the autobus truthful that the moderates marque a deal, and then, the hardliners blasted them for the aforesaid concessions each of them had agreed to make."

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Lawdan Bazargan, who was imprisoned by the Islamic Republic successful the 1980s for her governmental dissident activities, told Fox News Digital that what officials are seeing present is not the disappearance of the divide, but the vulnerability of what that disagreement really was.

"In reality, each of these figures — Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf [speaker of Iran’s parliament], Saeed Jalili [member of the Expediency Discernment Council], Pezeshkian, Ahmad Vahidi [head of the IRGC], Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei [head of Iran’s judiciary] — run wrong the aforesaid ideological framework," Bazargan said. "They are each committed to the preservation of the system, the projection of powerfulness successful the region, and confrontation with what they specify arsenic ‘the forces of evil,’ namely the United States and Israel."