All the Ways Iran’s Regime Keeps a Tight Grip on Power

Since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Iran has been a theocratic republic — and a constant thorn for the countries it marked out as enemies, Israel most of all.

In launching the biggest military assault on Iran since that country’s war with Iraq in the 1980s, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had more on his mind than the destruction of its nuclear program. Addressing the Iranian people directly on June 13 after the Israeli air assault began, he suggested they should seize the moment to rise up and overthrow their leaders.