Iran International
The question of succession has taken on new urgency in Tehran since Israeli missile strikes began and the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei reportedly moved to a secure location as he was threatened by Israeli leaders and President Trump.
But is he truly preparing to loosen his four-decades grip on Iran?
Khamenei has named three senior clerics as potential successors in case he is killed during the war with Israel, the New York Times reported Saturday, citing Iranian officials familiar with his emergency war plans.
Last week, Iran International reported that the 86-year-old leader has delegated authority to the Revolutionary Guards’ high command, effectively empowering the IRGC to manage critical decisions if he dies.
While these steps fall short of a formal emergency decree, they suggest an extraordinary contingency effort as missile exchanges between Israel and Iran enter a second week. Khamenei’s move appears aimed at ensuring continuity of command in the event he is incapacitated or killed.
Defiant messaging, emergency measures
Following the leader’s line, President Massoud Pezeshkian also ordered cabinet ministers last week to delegate some authority to deputies and senior managers.
Yet even as both leaders brace for escalation, Khamenei struck a defiant tone on June 18.
“Normal life is going on in Iran,” he said, rejecting retreat in what appeared to be a response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s call for “unconditional surrender.”
If the IRGC power-sharing reports are accurate, they could mark one of the most significant shifts in Iran’s post-revolution political order. For nearly four decades, Khamenei has centralized power—political, religious, military, and economic—around his office.
A legacy of control—and a quiet succession talk
Even Iran’s clerical seminaries, once independent and funded by religious donations, now fall under state control. Since 1989, Khamenei has turned clerics and seminarians into government employees, paid by his office and subject to dismissal if their loyalty is questioned.
As commander-in-chief, Khamenei exercises unilateral authority over military matters, bypassing the Majles on decisions of war and peace.
He also controls the state broadcaster IRIB, directing both leadership and editorial content. His office oversees several Tehran dailies and scores of newspapers nationwide—all part of a state-aligned media network.
Khamenei’s economic vision, framed around his concept of a “Resistance Economy,” has similarly concentrated power.
Though cabinet ministers exist, all major financial decisions—especially the annual budget—are dictated by his office. Massive state-linked economic conglomerates dominate the landscape and stifle the private sector.
In recent years, he has further sidelined parliament, issuing implicit directives that override legislation and block ministerial impeachments.
Succession has long been the Islamic Republic’s most sensitive—and unspoken—question. Few dared to discuss it openly. But in recent years, and especially in the current crisis, the topic has crept into public discourse.
Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba, is frequently floated in both establishment and opposition circles, though never officially acknowledged.
The Israeli strikes have made the issue more urgent.
One can imagine the question of who—or what—comes next, and whether that includes a possible thaw with the United States, being debated in private among Iran’s ruling elite. But no one dares say it aloud. Not yet.
"The punishment continues," a post on the 86-year old leader's X account wrote.
"The Zionist enemy has made a grave mistake, committed a major crime; it must be punished—and it is being punished. It is being punished right now. #AllahuAkbar".
No mention was made of the United States in his remarks, the first since US President Donald Trump proudly declared his forces had bombed three nuclear sites.
His post came as Israeli military authorities said only a single missile was fired at it by Iran in an attack overnight, in a possible sign of depleted power.
The day after the attack, the hawkish president upped the ante yet again, suggesting regime change would be welcome if Tehran could not "Make Iran Great Again".
"It’s not politically correct to use the term, 'Regime Change,' but if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn’t there be a Regime change??? MIGA!!!" Trump wrote.
Protests
Protests were held on Sunday in far-flung cities against the US attack on Iran's nuclear sites, including in Los Angeles, Karachi and outside a NATO meeting at The Hague.
Russia's United Nations ambassador Vassily Nebenzia hit out a what he called a rerun of the US Iraq War, based on weapons of mass destruction which were never found.
"Again we're being asked to believe the US's fairy tales, to once again inflict suffering on millions of people living in the Middle East," Nebenzia said.
US President Donald signaled he would accept little opposition as he tore into a lawmaker critic from his own Republican party on social media.
Kentucky congressman Thomas Massie had called out Trump, saying on X:"This is not America First folks.
What war wrought
Israel's attacks on Iran have so far killed 950 people and injured 3,450, human rights group HRANA reported on Sunday.
Meanwhile no clear picture had yet emerged on the impact of US attacks and whether it achieved its goal of ending Iran's nuclear ambitions.
The UN nuclear watchdog said Sunday that entrances to underground tunnels at Iran’s Isfahan nuclear complex were damaged in the strikes.
“We have established that entrances to underground tunnels at the site were impacted,” the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a statement.
The IAEA chief Rafael Grossi told CNN it was too early to assess the underground damage to Iran's Fordow site.
Iranian defiance
Iran's foreign minister arrived in Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin after appearing to vow Iranian retaliation in Turkey.
"The US crossed a very big red line by attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities," Abbas Araghchi said. Speaking in Istanbul, Araghchi said the US bore full responsibility.
“The attack on peaceful nuclear installations marks a dangerous precedent and will not go unanswered."
Relative moderate President Masoud Pezeshkian also promised a rejoinder.
“The US has attacked us. What would you do if you were in our position? Naturally, they must receive a response to their aggression,” Pezeshkian said.
Veteran security insider Ali Shamkhani said the strikes would not sink Iran's nuclear enterprise.
“Even if nuclear sites are destroyed, the game isn’t over... enriched materials, indigenous knowledge, and political will remain,” Shamkhani said on X.
“The initiative is now with the side that plays smart, avoids blind strikes. Surprises will continue!”
