Posted by Alumni from The Atlantic
March 11, 2026
Less than two weeks into the American and Israeli bombardment of Iran, the war is both a success and a failure. Militarily, the campaign has effectively degraded the Islamic Republic's warmaking capacities. But politically, thus far, it has only strengthened the regime's cohesion. President Trump may have hoped the elimination of the Islamic Republic's longtime supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, would produce an Iranian Delcy Rodriguez'a pragmatic insider who would capitulate to American pressure'but it has instead spawned a budding Iranian Kim Jong Un. Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, will succeed his father, making the Islamic Republic a hereditary dictatorship poised to double down on ideology and repression. Mojtaba inherits one of the most difficult jobs in the world. Reportedly injured and in hiding, he will lead a government that is simultaneously fighting full-blown wars against the United States and Israel and against much of its own population. He survived the missile strike... learn more