\n As negotiations between the United States and Iran enter a critical stage, a small but influential hardline faction has intensified efforts to sabotage a potential deal with Washington, fuelling President Donald Trump\u2019s claims of divisions within the Islamic Republic.\n <\/p>\n
\n The group shares Trump\u2019s view that the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers was a mistake \u2013 but for different reasons. Its positions are so hostile to the West, even by the standards of Iran\u2019s conservative hardliners, that the regime\u2019s efforts to appease it have so far failed.\n <\/p>\n
\n And as the Islamic Republic\u2019s new leaders project unity in the face of the gravest existential threat the regime has faced, the ultra-hardline group has ramped up efforts across the media, in parliament and on the streets to advocate against an agreement with the US, arguing that only by defeating Washington can Iran secure a favorable deal.\n <\/p>\n
\n Known as \u201cJebhe-ye Paydari\u201d \u2013 or the Endurance Front \u2013 its members are often described by observers as \u201cSuper Revolutionaries\u201d who view themselves as guardians of the values of the 1979 revolution that overthrew the pro-Western Shah before imposing an authoritarian regime rooted in Shia Islamist ideology.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThey view resistance against the United States and Israel as an eternal fight,\u201d Hamidreza Azizi, a visiting fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, told CNN. \u201cThey believe in a Shia state that needs to continue until the end of times and are quite fanatic when it comes to that religious ideology.\u201d\n <\/p>\n