{"id":48710,"date":"2026-04-02T16:44:32","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T16:44:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/48710\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T16:44:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T16:44:32","slug":"how-tehran-could-become-a-zombie-regime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/48710\/","title":{"rendered":"How Tehran could become a \u2018zombie regime\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">As Iran becomes more isolated, are its leaders on their way to becoming a \u201czombie regime\u201d?<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">That\u2019s the view of Holly Dagres, Iranian-American analyst for the Washington Institute and author of the Iranist newsletter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Speaking to Roland Oliphant and senior foreign correspondent Sophia Yan, she also explains why there haven\u2019t been more protests in Iran and why the Islamic Republic will declare victory no matter how this war goes.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Plus: could the UAE help solve the Strait of Hormuz stalemate?<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The US is growing increasingly angry with its allies for refusing to help fully reopen the blocked waterway, which has led to soaring oil prices and dire economic warnings. From <a class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/world-news\/2026\/04\/01\/donald-trump-strongly-considering-pulling-us-out-of-nato\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:President Donald Trump threatening to pull out of Nato;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;President Donald Trump threatening to pull out of Nato&quot;}\">President Donald Trump threatening to pull out of Nato<\/a> (a Telegraph exclusive) to Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth lambasting the UK, Washington\u2019s ire is palpable.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Venetia Rainey runs through the latest updates from the Middle East, including Trump\u2019s claim ahead of his big speech tonight that Iran has asked for a ceasefire, and a potentially game-changing report that the UAE is pushing for a coalition to help reopen the Strait by force.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Listen to <a class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/iran--the-latest\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Iran: The Latest;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Iran&quot;}\">Iran: The Latest<\/a>: <a class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PLJnf_DDTfIVAif-vifC6F2aoPB8GIw6dk\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:YOUTUBE;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;YOUTUBE&quot;}\">YOUTUBE<\/a> | <a class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/gb\/podcast\/battle-lines\/id1712903296\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:APPLE PODCASTS;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;APPLE PODCASTS&quot;}\">APPLE PODCASTS <\/a>| <a class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/7gPBO0qnZI1YBi25zaVT1c\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:SPOTIFY;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;SPOTIFY&quot;}\">SPOTIFY<\/a> |<a class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/7gPBO0qnZI1YBi25zaVT1c\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:AMAZON;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;AMAZON&quot;}\"> AMAZON<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/customer\/subscription\/store\/us\/?ICID=yahoo_article\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Try full access to The Telegraph free today. Unlock their award-winning website and essential news app, plus useful tools and expert guides for your money, health and holidays.;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Try full access to The Telegraph free today. Unlock their award-winning website and essential news app, plus useful tools and expert guides for your money, health and holidays.&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Try full access to The Telegraph free today. Unlock their award-winning website and essential news app, plus useful tools and expert guides for your money, health and holidays.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Iran becomes more isolated, are its leaders on their way to becoming a \u201czombie regime\u201d? That\u2019s the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48711,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[16377,19937,19940,34,19939,772,19938,188,19941,69,18753],"class_list":{"0":"post-48710","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tehran","8":"tag-alireza-tangsiri","9":"tag-funeral-ceremony","10":"tag-holly-dagres","11":"tag-iran","12":"tag-iranian-american","13":"tag-pete-hegseth","14":"tag-protests-in-iran","15":"tag-revolutionary-guards","16":"tag-roland-oliphant","17":"tag-tehran","18":"tag-washington-institute"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116336123096258052","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48710\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}