Pahlavi pledged to lead a transition to a 'free and democratic Iran.' He called on President Trump to continue the American-Israeli military operation against Iran, in the hope of displacing a regime he decried for placing a 'sea of blood' between itself and its people.
Chalker claims that during his time at the C.I.A., he was instrumental in persuading Iranian scientists to defect, which provided crucial information that 'prevented Iran from getting a nuke.' His operations involved complex strategies and a deep understanding of the scientists' motivations.
"The essence of oligarchical rule," George Orwell wrote in 1984, "is the persistence of a certain world-view and a certain way of life, imposed by the dead upon the living." For nearly four decades, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei presided over exactly that. He did not build the Islamic Republic of Iran. He inherited it from its founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who in 1979 led a revolution that deposed a U.S.-aligned monarchy and replaced it with an Islamist theocracy.
Mojtaba was announced as supreme leader on March 9 after his fellow hardliners rallied behind him to succeed his father. His public response was limited to a written statement on Telegram three days later, intensifying the speculation about how badly he was wounded during Israel's strike on his father's residence.
Mojtaba Khamenei has been announced as his father's successor as supreme leader. But US officials claim that he is wounded, and analysts say he has never held an executive role. That has left observers wondering what the chain of command looks like in Tehran, and who the most powerful figures in the country are.
Israel has reportedly focused on decapitation strikes and military targets, while the United States has focused mostly on military targets. ISW also cited reports that the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran's defense minister, intelligence chief, and defense council secretary were killed.
