Rather, Iranian hardliners have filled the vacuum with Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba – the very man Trump publicly said he did not want. An Iranian woman holds a poster of Iran's slain supreme leader Ali Khamenei in Tehran on March 11. Democracy and regime change are now an aspiration in the rear-view mirror of Trump as he seeks an end to the war. And so for Iran’s regime, the path to victory – or at least not to defeat - is suddenly very clear, albeit long. Trump or Israel could kill a second Khamenei, but the resulting Iranian resolve would be harder to defeat still.

Source: CNN March 13, 2026 06:28 UTC