Following Ayatollah Khamenei’s death and Mojtaba’s wounding, the IRGC and security chiefs now control Iran’s war and strategy, sidelining clerical leadership.
A unified hardline core, centered on the Supreme National Security Council and IRGC, sets policy, resists US pressure, and leverages control over the Strait of Hormuz and nuclear negotiations.
Mojtaba Khamenei serves mainly to legitimize decisions made by generals, as Iran’s power shifts from clerics to security institutions, consolidating hardline rule amid ongoing war with the US and Israel.
With Iran's clerical rule shattered, who is the shadowy general now truly in command?
Is Iran’s new Supreme Leader just a puppet for generals driving the nation toward total war?
Has the IRGC's wartime power grab permanently transformed Iran into a military dictatorship?
With negotiations deadlocked, how close is Iran to a nuclear weapon under its new military rule?
Iran has choked the world's oil supply. How long until the global economy grinds to a halt?
As peace talks collapse, is a wider, more devastating Middle East war now inevitable?