Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei is a “more hardline version” of his father and despite Donald Trump’s goals, the war may end with a younger and stronger version of the regime in place, a journalist has said.
Tara Kangarlou, author of The Heartbeat of Iran, said “every faction of Iran’s political apparatus” was “united” behind the son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
She told Sky News we were likely to see images of regime supporters “out on the streets” in the coming days despite the airstrikes in Iran.
“Mojtaba Khamenei is a younger, more emboldened and more hardline version of his father. He has the full backing of the IRGC, the Revolutionary Guard,” said Kangarlou, noting the IRGC is the force behind a stifling of any form of dissent in Iran.
She added that the White House’s reaction to the announcement of Khamenei as the new supreme leader would be important.
Donald Trump, who cited regime change as one of several justifications behind the war on Iran, has only said that he is “unhappy” with his appointment (see previous post).
“We’ll see how he’s going to react and whether or not that means that Mojtaba is now under threat – would he be eliminated? What would that then entail? A lot of unknowns.”
She said some of the Iranian population were concerned that a “new or younger version” of the regime would remain in place once the war is over.
“We are left with in some ways with the regime 2.0, except this time stronger,” Kangarlou said.
