Who is in charge of decision-making in Iran? That answer will determine whether peace with its neighbors is possible or not.

By Mansoor Ijaz

Judging from the abrupt dismissal of anything decided by Iran's political theocrats -- the Straits of Hormuz are once again closed after the Iranian foreign minister and Parliament Speaker declared them open on Friday -- the decision-making power clearly lies elsewhere. The agenda behind that decision-making is not peace. It's a slowly accelerating effort to mire the United States down in "Vietnamese-style" quicksand.

So is it Russia? China? The mercenaries populating Iran's military?

Russia would benefit greatly from testing their advanced weapons against American hardware using Iran as a proxy battlefield. Iran's 190,000 strong Revolutionary Guards are happy to accommodate. Vladimir Putin might also enjoy watching his "buddy", President Trump, wriggle around to find a way out of Iran's morass, chuckling, "Welcome to Ukraine".

China would also certainly not mind watching the president squirm a little more -- at least until Mr. Trump goes to Beijing and "....asks Xi Jinping nicely..." to stay out of the Iran quagmire (quoting Jack Nicholson's Col. Nathan Jessup in the brilliantly cast "A Few Good Men". Xi seems uninterested in wars he doesn't start, but setting some Iranian brush fires that even things up for Mr. Trump's 2025 tariff policies that ran amok wouldn't bother him in the least.

Yet, the biggest dog in this fight is the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the mercenary group that has terrorized the world for nearly 40 years. My view: IRGC, under the direction of Ahmad Vahidi (pictured), is calling ALL the shots. And his bloodthirsty cabals, who recently dispersed all throughout the country to avoid a single attack killing too many of them, have started a civil war inside Iran to take control of the state. The forked tongue thus speaks.

When Ayatollah Khamenei was alive, IRGC avoided the spotlight because their man in Tehran was busy fundraising and aligned with their hardline direction. Now, they direct Tehran's foreign policy by forcing political elites to "honeytrap" American negotiators before embarrassing them, as was done on Friday. All the while, IRGC commandos are busy in the Caspian collecting Russia's advanced missiles, missile launchers and any other tools in the toolbox that can create maximum chaos for the U.S. blockade.

How can America end this game of chicken? Deadly force and a forked diplomatic tongue. In other words, do exactly unto them what they do unto us. Instead of destroying bridges and electrical substations, the U.S. should be destroying the ships that run weapons in the Caspian. Israel, with its eyes and ears on the ground, should pursue rooting out every single one of the IRGC commanders.

These apocalyptic agents of chaos are a cancer on the world body. Only their elimination will offer any chance for Iran to be at peace with its neighbors.