After the removal of dozens of key figures from Iran’s leadership, power was taken over, at least officially, by hardliners towards the West. However, the new officials and service chiefs are afraid to speak or meet: many of their comrades were killed precisely because their phones were intercepted or because they were in the same place at critical moments. The fragmentation of the state apparatus and the total lack of communication raise questions about who is actually responsible for negotiations with the USA and how the Iranians could coordinate their diplomatic positions, writes The New York Times, picked up by Moscow Times.
This rupture seriously undermines the authorities’ ability to make decisions or coordinate large-scale attacks, Western officials with access to intelligence reports told the American publication. Although the military and secret services are still functioning, it is almost impossible for them to implement a unified policy or develop new strategies.
The chaos began with the first attack of this war, in which Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other important leaders were killed, an event that severed the ties between politicians and the military. It is not even clear the degree of control that the new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has over the government. He has not appeared in public, and the intelligence services of the US and Israel suspect he may be injured. Some Western analysts believe that Mojtaba is more of a figurehead, with real decisions being made by the survivors of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps leadership.
On Sunday, Donald Trump stated that the USA and Israel have already achieved a “regime change” in Iran: “A regime has been crushed, destroyed, all its representatives are dead. The next regime is also nearly finished.” Trump suggested that a “third regime” has already formed in Iran, adding that American negotiators are now discussing with “a completely different group of people,” whom he described as being “very reasonable.”
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