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Iranian officials advocating for dialogue with the United States face the risk of being branded as traitors and potentially facing severe consequences, warns a policy expert amid growing divisions within Iran’s new leadership.
Hooshang Amirahmadi, the president of the American Iranian Council, highlighted the increasing vulnerability of moderates who support engagement with Washington. This is happening at a time when the Trump administration suggests it is in communication with parts of a “new” Iranian leadership.
“If moderates push for negotiations and a ceasefire, they risk being labeled as traitors and could potentially be eliminated,” Amirahmadi shared with Fox News Digital.
Amirahmadi’s caution comes as the U.S. appears to be dealing with its own internal “fractures” during the ongoing conflict.
President Donald Trump stated on Monday that the United States is involved in serious discussions with what he described as a “new” and “more reasonable” regime in Iran, as the conflict enters its fifth week. Secretary of State Marco Rubio did not specify whom the U.S. is negotiating with, but he did acknowledge the existence of “fractures.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends a meeting with China’s Foreign Minister (not pictured) in Munich Feb. 13, 2026, on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. ( Alex Brandon/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
“Well, I’m not going to disclose to you who those people are, because it probably would get them in trouble with some other groups of people inside of Iran. Look, there are some fractures going on there internally,” Rubio said on “Good Morning America.”
“Anyone in Iran who speaks of negotiation is suspected of paving the way for more war and destruction,” Amirahmadi said before stating that the moderate reformers are thought of as “infiltrators and deemed traitors.”
Amirahmadi also confirmed Rubio’s comments and highlighted an internal struggle within Tehran’s power structure, where remnants of what he called the “old regime,” or the Khamenei-era system, still exist.
“Many of them support negotiation or a ceasefire. But the emerging new regime is made up of more hard-line elements and views the others as traitors,” he said.
“For a long time, there has been a serious gap — what we call a cleavage — between the hardliners or radicals and the moderates or reformists.”
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf attends a news conference at a conference hall in the Iranian Parliament building in Tehran, Iran, Dec. 2, 2025. (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Amirahmadi also described how “assassination in the Islamic Republic is not a new phenomenon. It has been there for a long time.”
Amirahmadi spoke ahead of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth saying Tuesday that Washington remains firm on reaching an agreement to end the monthlong conflict involving the U.S., Israel and the Islamic Republic.
Speaking at a news conference, Hegseth reiterated that Trump is willing to make a deal to end the war, adding the new regime is now in place.
“If Iran is smart, it will make a deal. The new Iranian regime should already know that. This new regime, having undergone a regime change, should be smarter than the previous one. President Trump does not bluff and will not back down. He will make a deal, he is willing and the terms of the deal are known to them,” Hegseth said.
“The field and the war are in the control of the radical colonels, and that is what matters at this point,” Amirahmadi added.
“The established bureaucracy is still run by the same old moderate regime, but then that is not a new regime. The new regime is certainly more radical.”
Iran’s power structure is increasingly dominated by IRGC figures like Ahmad Vahidi (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Since the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the succession of his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, the regime appears more reliant on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Iran’s power structure is increasingly dominated by IRGC figures like Ahmad Vahidi and Qods Force chief Esmail Qaani, alongside judicial figures such as Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Ayatollah Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei.
While President Masoud Pezeshkian’s influence could have waned, figures like Saeed Jalili, Guardian Council insider Ayatollah Alireza Arafi and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi continue shaping Iran’s security posture.
“There are basically the colonels; there are the Revolutionary Guards, people that are in the military. A few non-military hardliners are in universities, in government and places,” Amirahmadi added.
“They have changed the regime into a very radical regime,” Amirahmadi warned, “I don’t even think Khamenei’s son would favor negotiation, at least initially.
“His position and condition are not entirely clear. His leadership appears symbolic — a reaction, even a gesture against figures like Trump.
“Trump and Netanyahu wanted regime change, and they have already achieved it, but the regime has just become more radical,” Amirahmadi concluded.