{"id":34712,"date":"2026-03-07T12:04:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T12:04:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/investmentbankingrules.com\/?p=34712"},"modified":"2026-03-07T12:04:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T12:04:13","slug":"irans-ideological-state-faith-fear-and-favors-fuel-its-vast-propaganda-and-patronage-network","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/investmentbankingrules.com\/?p=34712","title":{"rendered":"Iran\u2019s ideological state: faith, fear and favors fuel its vast propaganda and patronage network"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Benny Sabti was a child growing up in Iran, he remembers receiving an unusual prize at school. \u2018For being an excellent student, I received a Persian translation of Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler,\u2019 Sabti told Fox News Digital. \u2018They translated Hitler\u2019s book into Persian and distributed it to students.\u2019
\nThe experience stayed with him. Looking back, Sabti, now an Iran expert at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) in Israel, says it reflected a broader effort by Iran\u2019s ruling clerical establishment to shape how young Iranians viewed politics, religion and the world around them.
\nSchools, mosques, workplaces and media all became part of an ideological ecosystem designed to reinforce loyalty to the regime. But critics of Iran\u2019s leadership say religion itself was often not the ultimate goal.
\n\u2018Faith for them is their tool,\u2019 Banafsheh Zand, an Iranian-American journalist and editor of the Iran So Far Away Substack, told Fox News Digital. \u2018It\u2019s not the end all to be all. It\u2019s a tool that they can hide behind so that they can carry out all their criminalities.\u2019
\nReligion and power
\nThe Islamic Republic was founded on the doctrine of velayat-e faqih, or \u2018guardianship of the Islamic jurist,\u2019 which places ultimate political and religious authority in the hands of the country\u2019s supreme leader.
\nBut Zand argues that in practice the system functions less as a purely religious project and more as a mechanism of political control. \u2018It\u2019s more like a mafia,\u2019 she said. \u2018They use faith in order to keep people down.\u2019
\nAccording to Zand, ideology is reinforced through a mix of financial incentives and intimidation. \u2018They tried by incentive and money and buying people,\u2019 she said.
\nPrograms tied to the Basij, a militia affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), have often provided benefits such as jobs, housing and education to families aligned with the regime.
\n\u2018If you are poor and you join the Basij, they give you benefits,\u2019 Zand said. \u2018But you have to go along with whatever it is that they offer you.\u2019
\nIdeology embedded in daily life
\nSabti says the Islamic Republic built a vast network designed to reinforce ideology in everyday life. \u2018In banks, offices, public spaces and even in the bazaars, regime representatives walk between shops telling people it is time to pray and checking who is not attending,\u2019 Sabti said.
\nMosques themselves are closely integrated into the political system. Friday prayer leaders often deliver sermons aligned with government messaging.
\n\u2018There are 16 propaganda bodies in Iran,\u2019 Sabti said, describing a network of state institutions responsible for spreading the regime\u2019s interpretation of Islam and the ideals of the Islamic Revolution.
\nSome institutions also focus on exporting that ideology abroad. \u2018There is a university dedicated to converting Sunnis to Shiism,\u2019 he said. \u2018They bring people from Africa and South America to Iran, convert them to Shiism and send them back to export the Shiite Islamic revolution.\u2019<\/p>\n

Indoctrination in schools
\nSchools play a central role in the regime\u2019s ideological system.
\n\u2018Schools are heavily indoctrinated,\u2019 Sabti said. \u2018In civil studies books, Islam was promoted as superior to all other ideologies.\u2019
\nReligious messaging appears across the curriculum. \u2018You cannot separate any school subject from Islam,\u2019 Sabti said. \u2018Not history, not geography. Everything is mixed with ideology. The only thing missing was adding it to mathematics.\u2019
\nFor Sabti, the Mein Kampf episode symbolized the ideological environment students were exposed to. The message, he said, reinforced hostility toward perceived enemies and embedded a political worldview from an early age.
\nIdeology and hypocrisy
\nSabti says the credibility of the system is also undermined by the behavior of Iran\u2019s own elites. \u2018You can see it in the second generation,\u2019 he said. \u2018Their children live abroad while the elites live in palaces in Iran and in other countries. It is hypocrisy.\u2019
\nZand says ideology has always been reinforced by intimidation. \u2018They make examples out of people in the most vicious possible way,\u2019 she said. \u2018It\u2019s fear and manipulation.\u2019
\nAccording to Zand, that atmosphere of fear shapes daily life for many Iranians. \u2018Everybody is afraid of the police,\u2019 she said. \u2018Everybody is afraid of their neighbors.\u2019<\/p>\n

An ideology losing its grip
\nDespite the regime\u2019s extensive ideological machinery, Sabti believes many Iranians never fully accepted the worldview the government tried to impose.
\n\u2018Over the years, the indoctrination has stopped working,\u2019 he said. \u2018Most of the public does not truly believe it.\u2019
\nStill, the Islamic Republic remains in power. \u2018The regime maintains control through money, weapons and propaganda,\u2019 Sabti said.
\nZand agrees the system never fully reshaped Iranian society. Many people, she said, complied outwardly simply to avoid punishment.
\n\u2018They won\u2019t have a problem to transfer as long as they realize that the new Iran has no room for the violence and the horrifying characteristics of the Islamist regime,\u2019 Zand told Fox News Digital.
\nShe said that beneath the surface, Iran\u2019s cultural identity remained intact even after decades of pressure from the state.<\/p>\n

Related Article<\/p>\n

Trump says Iran\u2019s succession bench wiped out as Israeli strike hits leadership deliberations<\/p>\n

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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