India, March 21 -- When Iran appointed veteran military leader Hossein Dehghan as its new national security and intelligence chief this week, succeeding Ali Larijani who was killed in an American-Israeli military strike, the regime moved seamlessly from one doctorate-holder to another.

Ali Larijani had a PhD in Western philosophy. Dehghan has a PhD in public administration. The handover was, in that sense, entirely typical of how the Islamic Republic has staffed its upper reaches for nearly five decades.

Across its presidents, foreign ministers, military commanders and senior officials, the cleric-led, religion-driven regime that replaced the despotic Shah in 1979 has among its ranks a striking number of people with advanced university ...