In a SPIEGEL interview, Iranian Ayatollah Mohsen Kadivar, currently a visiting research professor at America’s Duke University, discusses the recent death of opposition leader Hossein Ali Montazeri, the frustrations Iranians have with their regime and the future of the green movement and the prospect of an escalation.

Kadivar: You are right that the Shiite theocracy in its present form has failed — a fact that few have expressed as clearly as my teacher in the last few months. Incidentally, when Grand Ayatollah Montazeri had his falling out with Khomeini, three months before the supreme religious leader’s death in 1989, he said: This state is so different from the one we dreamed of and worked to create. Still, it is not Islam which has failed, but rather a particular interpretation of Islam. IND:  It is the mixture of state with any form of Islam that has failed.  The Iranian people are not making these sacrifices to now experiment with mixing Mr. Kadivar’s interpretation of Islam with the state and possibly tolerate another 30 years of tyranny. I also want to express that there hasn’t been a revolution in Iran yet. The opposition is becoming increasingly clear in the formulation of its objectives and more daring. Still, we need to remain patient. I do not know when, exactly, but I am convinced that the regime will collapse.