The textbooks say the Byzantine Empire was a theocratic autocracy uniting church and state under an all-powerful emperor believed by the Byzantines to be God’s viceroy and vicar. Nonsense ...

But the theocratic elite led by Khamenei has survived ... the once-great Persian empire found itself harassed on all sides by other empires: the Ottomans in the west, the Russians to the north ...

Only dismantling this theocracy can pave the way for peace, democracy, and liberation from this destructive empire. A member of Iranian militia forces (Basij) gestures during an anti-Israeli march ...