"Iran endured a day of unprecedented military and diplomatic pressure on Tuesday as US airstrikes pushed the death toll in the country above 800 and the offices of Assembly of Experts, the body due to select a replacement for the assassinated supreme leader Ali Khamenei, were bombed. It would be an extraordinary security lapse if it emerges that many of the 88 elderly clerics on the assembly had been in the building in Qom voting at the time."
"The chaos suggests Iran's government is struggling to function at all in the middle of a war that is turning into an existential struggle for survival. Behind the scenes a power struggle between officials is under way over whether to adopt a more flexible approach to the west, a debate that involves around the choice of the new supreme leader, underlining the need for the political elite to make a decision."
"In a bid to instil some stability, it had become an imperative for Iran's authorities to try to rapidly install a new clerical figure to replace the 86-year-old Khamenei. He was assassinated along with his wife and granddaughter on Sunday. Reports the defence minster, installed only two days earlier, had been killed were not confirmed."
Iran faced severe military and diplomatic pressure as US airstrikes exceeded 800 deaths and struck critical government facilities. The Assembly of Experts office in Qom, responsible for selecting a successor to assassinated Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, was bombed while clerics were reportedly voting. Additional attacks targeted Tehran's mediation body between parliament and the Guardian Council, plus the supreme national security council. Iran's government struggles to function amid the conflict, with uncertainty about casualties among senior officials including the defense minister and security council secretary general. Internal power struggles over Iran's future direction and leadership selection intensify as the country faces existential threats.
#iran-military-strikes #leadership-succession-crisis #government-instability #us-iran-conflict #political-power-struggle
Read at www.theguardian.com
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