Who’s in charge in Tehran? Who’s manning the ship? You already know the answer: no one. US and Israeli forces launched a flurry of airstrikes on Saturday that decimated the Iranian political and military leadership. The Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is dead. Everyone who could lead the country is gone, which President Trump admitted on Sunday. There is no one in charge. Iran is a headless chicken right now (via Associated Press):
Iran’s foreign minister has suggested his country’s military units are acting independently from any central government control after being pressed about attacks on Gulf Arab nations that have served as intermediaries for Tehran in the past.
The comments came in an Al Jazeera interview on Sunday with Abbas Araghchi.
“What happened in Oman was not our choice. We have already told our, you know, army, armed forces to be careful about the targets that they choose,” Araghchi said.
“As a matter of fact, our, you know, military units are now in fact independent and somehow isolated and they are acting based on instructions — you know, general instructions — given to them in advance.”
Already, there have been attacks on Oman, which served as an intermediary in recent nuclear talks with the United States, and on Qatar, which also has negotiated with Tehran and shares a massive offshore natural gas field in the Persian Gulf with the Islamic Republic.
Militaries around the world do contingency planning for wars, including what to do if their central governments are affected.
But Iran is a special case given that its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which answered only to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, controls its vast ballistic missile arsenal and much of its stockpile of bomb-carrying drones.
Araghchi’s comments also could serve as an excuse for the attacks as well as to try to ease tensions with Iran’s Gulf Arab neighbors, who have grown increasingly enraged by the constant fire targeting them despite efforts at easing tensions in recent years.
There were nearly 1,000 airstrikes in the first 12 hours of this US-Israeli operation. It’s expected to last for days. We’re watching history, folks. Whatever happens next, it’s a new era in Iran. The Islamic Republic is collapsing before our eyes.