Iran moderates pushing Trump deal risk being 'eliminated' as regime fractures deepen

"If the moderates were to push toward negotiation and a ceasefire, they will be considered traitors and will most likely be eliminated," Amirahmadi told Fox News Digital.

Amirahmadi's warning came as Washington also appears to be navigating internal "fractures" amid the ongoing conflict.

"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."

Amirahmadi also described how "assassination in the Islamic Republic is not a new phenomenon. It has been there for a long time."

"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 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.

"Trump and Netanyahu wanted regime change, and they have already achieved it, but the regime has just become more radical," Amirahmadi concluded.