The men running Iran are not just politicians, they are apocalyptic true believers!
- crossroadscaloundr
- Mar 16
- 4 min read
Updated: Jul 30
The real face of evil, tyranny & oppression:
If you want to understand why Iran behaves the way it does — why they are not deterred by normal calculations of loss, why death doesn't frighten them the way it should — this is exactly you need to hear.
𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 general Islam but "𝐓𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐡𝐢𝐢𝐬𝐦" — a specific, radical, apocalyptic cult ideology that has seized control of the Iranian state and functions less like a branch of a world religion and more like a death cult with nuclear ambitions.
Here is what Twelvers actually believe. The twelfth imam — the Mahdi — went into occultation, meaning divine hiding, in 874 AD. Twelvers believe he will return at the end of times to establish a global Islamic caliphate. And here is the part that should stop you cold: 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝𝐰𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐨𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐥𝐲𝐬𝐦 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧. They are not trying to avoid apocalypse. They are trying to 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐭.
This is why normal deterrence logic breaks down with the Iranian regime. A government that believes global destabilization is theologically required and cosmically rewarded does not respond to threats of destruction the way a rational state actor does. Destruction may be, in their framework, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭.
A Biblical pattern that gives this ancient context — from Nimrod building Babel in defiance of God in the land of Shinar, which is Mesopotamia, which is modern Iraq and Iran, through the succession of empires that rose from that same geographic and spiritual crucible in opposition to the God of Israel. You do not have to be a Christian or accept every element of the theological framework to recognize what we are identifying: 𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐭𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐛𝐲 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫.
What makes Twelverism uniquely dangerous — and why it qualifies as a cult rather than a legitimate expression of faith — is the eliminationist requirement baked into its eschatology. The Mahdi's return and the establishment of the final caliphate requires the subjugation or elimination of those who do not submit. It is not a theology of coexistence. It is a theology of 𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 — and the Iranian regime has been the state apparatus of that theology since 1979.
This is why the mullahs welcomed chaos in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen. This is why they funded Hezbollah, armed Hamas, and seeded terror cells across Europe and the Americas. This is why Mojtaba Khamenei, the new Supreme Leader, has not moderated his rhetoric by a single decibel even as his factories burn and his missile stockpile drains.
𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐓𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐫, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐠𝐞𝐭, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫. Catastrophe is not a failure condition. It is a prophetic milestone. Most people — including most in the media and most in Washington — are not taking this seriously enough. You cannot negotiate in good faith with a government that views negotiation as a temporary tactical pause on the road to apocalypse. You cannot deter with the threat of death a leadership class that has theologically reframed death as victory.
The only answer to Twelver eschatology in power is the removal of that power. Not containment. Not negotiation. 𝐑𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐥.Which is exactly what is happening right now.
𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐈𝐒𝐋𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐂 𝐑𝐄𝐏𝐔𝐁𝐋𝐈𝐂 𝐎𝐅 𝐈𝐑𝐀𝐍, 𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐘𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐈𝐒𝐑𝐀𝐄𝐋 𝐈𝐒𝐍’𝐓 𝐏𝐎𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐋 — 𝐈𝐓’𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐋
𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬. Eli Caleb just laid out the theological architecture in one of the cleanest podcast segments on the Iran question I have heard:
“𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘐𝘳𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘣𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘛𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘢 𝘐𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘮. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 12𝘵𝘩 𝘐𝘮𝘢𝘮, 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘦𝘵 𝘔𝘢𝘩𝘥𝘪, 𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 937 𝘊𝘌. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘦𝘵 𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘱 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘐𝘴𝘳𝘢𝘦𝘭 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘴. 𝘚𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘐𝘴𝘳𝘢𝘦𝘭 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘦𝘵.”
“𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘢 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘺 𝘐𝘴𝘳𝘢𝘦𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥.”
𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝟒𝟓-𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐈𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐧-𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐭𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟. H∗zbollah, founded by the IRGC in Lebanon in 1981, explicitly created as a second IRGC on Israel’s border to begin the prophetic clock. H∗mas, the Houthis, Iraqi militias, every named Iranian proxy — 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐧-𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞.
𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐖𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐝𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐈𝐫𝐚𝐧: they negotiate as if Iran’s leadership is rational in the secular-Westphalian sense — trading concessions, lifting sanctions, hoping the regime will moderate. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐠𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐒. 𝐈𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐠𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐆𝐨𝐝. Obama’s 150 billion dollars and Biden’s 6 billion dollars 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐮𝐲 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐲.
𝐄𝐥𝐢 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐛 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐭: “𝘐𝘵’𝘴 45 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘕𝘢𝘻𝘪 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘮𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘱 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘬!𝘭𝘭 50 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘰𝘶𝘵. 𝘠𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦.”
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐟. 𝐈𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐩 𝐨𝐟 𝐈𝐬𝐫𝐚𝐞𝐥’𝐬 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐦𝐞’𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭.
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