Iran is not anti-imperialist. It is a state calculating survival

More than five months into the US-Israel war on Iran, the prospects for a deal that would end the confrontation remain unclear. Earlier this week, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said there were no direct negotiations with the United States.Meanwhile, hostile rhetoric and calls for revenge continue to emanate from Tehran. Some Western commentators, especially on the right, have claimed that Iran is incapable of striking a deal because of its anti-American ideology. But that is a flawed assumption.One just needs to look at the Iranian constitution and its recent history to discover that the Islamic Republic is not governed solely by ideology. The regime, in its present form, would not shy away from reaching a settlement with the US and even Israel, if it fell in line with its guiding principle: regime survival.The limits of Iranian anti-imperialismIn January 1988, Iranian Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini settled an internal dispute over the scope of velayat-e faqih, the guardianship of the Islamic jurist, by declaring that the Islamic government ranks above all other rulings of Islam, including prayer, fasting and pilgrimage. The following month, he ordered the creation of a...