Not that I can think off hand. And I’m not saying it absolutely will work :). It may not, however I think theoretically it is perfectly viable. Maybe even necessary.
Turkey went down a different road - forced secularization, enforced by a highly indoctrinated military which actually has a constitutional role to defend that secularization ( it’s what makes Turkey’s democracy rather fragile and technically compromised, though so far it doesn’t seem to have led to a tendency towards permanent juntas ). This was possible because of a variety of conditions present in Turkey at the end of WW I and though it is an ideal much beloved by certain scholars like Bernard Lewis, it is questionable whether such a system is transferable to the modern Middle East.
At any rate the Turkish experiment has led in the last couple of years to the interesting compromise of a more of less moderate and democratic Islamist party taking power without causing any extreme societal stress. This after an earlier, more threateningly open ( to the military’s way of thinking ) Islamist government was bounced by the army.
Actually, I do not see a disagreement between what I said and what you are suggesting.
Think of a line which starts at point A (current state of theocracy in Iran). The line from point A passes through point B (what you are suggesting) and continues to reach point C (what I am suggesting). Going from A to C may take Iranians about a 100 years of evolution. But the final destination is C, not B.
As you admitted:
That indicates you prefer point C on the line. You then concluded by saying:
I suppose your proposed “presage” is the point B on the line, an intermediary phase between A to C.
BTW Tamerlane, like Shodan and many other Dopers, I have the highest respect for your depth and breadth of knowledge and understanding of the ME region, its culture, history, and realities. May I suggest that you expand your intermediate solution (point B on the line) into an article and submit it to www.Iranian.com for publication. I understand the site has a large audience, not only among Iranian expatriates abroad, but among many in Iran who can read and understand English. If Iranian.com publishes your article, I offer to translate it to Farsi and have it posted in several Farsi language sites and blogs in Iran.