Tehran, Iran – Much has changed for Iranian authorities and more than 90 million people in the country since the United States and Israel launched the first strikes on Tehran two months ago.Yet some elements of how Iran works and who controls key decisions have only become more entrenched.The war appears far from the finish line, and there is no clear view of where things will stand at the end, but what has transpired so far may offer some clues.Leadership changesUS President Donald Trump has insisted multiple times that “regime change” has already materialised in Iran, since several layers of officials have been killed, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and others at the top.But the main institutions of the Islamic Republic remain in place, and his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, was quickly elected by a clerical body as the successor.Military, security, political and judicial authorities have renewed their pledge of allegiance to Khamenei’s office and the theocratic establishment, even though the new supreme leader has not been seen or heard from outside several written statements attributed to him. Motorcyclists ride past a billboard that shows a graphic depicting Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei in Tehran, Iran, April 6, 2026 [Vahid Salemi/AP Photo]The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), founded to safeguard the establishment after the 1979 revolution, continues to take the lead on military operations, wield significant economic power, particularly from managing Iran’s n …
