Every bomb creates new martyrs: the regime in Iran is becoming more and more radical.Image: keystone
The US and Israeli attacks on Iran have decimated its leadership. However, the desired regime change did not take place – the Iranian leadership became even more radical.
April 15, 2026, 8:16 p.mApril 15, 2026, 8:16 p.m
When will the Iran war end? Experts and analysts around the world are asking themselves this question. It is not easy to answer because neither Israel nor the USA pursue clearly defined goals. However, Donald Trump’s government emphasized from the outset that it was seeking regime change in Iran.
He has held the Iranian people responsible for this since his first statement shortly after the first air strikes at the end of February:
Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, was also killed in the first wave of attacks. In the following weeks, the United States and Israel communicated the killing of dozens of high-ranking Iranian officials. Nevertheless, the regime continues to hold power. Ali Khamenei was followed by Modshtaba Khamenei, who was even “worse” and “more repressive” than his father, as various experts commented:
“It is a massive humiliation for the United States to undertake an operation of this magnitude, to risk so much to end up killing an 86-year-old man who is then replaced by his uncompromising son.”
Iran expert Alex Vatanka from the Middle East Institutesource: reuters
How the regime is changing
Even in Iran, regime supporters were critical of the installation of Khamenei’s son: “The world will miss his father’s era,” says an Iranian official to Reuters. “Mojtaba will have no choice but to act with an iron fist. Even if the war ends, there will be massive internal repression.”
There is still no trace of Modschtaba Khamenei. Since the first attacks on February 28, Iran’s new leader has never appeared in public.Image: keystone
The conflict is now in its seventh week, Moschtaba Khamenei has still not appeared in public and the question remains whether he is physically fit enough to manage Iran’s business during the war. What is clear, however, is that the regime in Tehran continues to cling to power – and has become even more radicalized in the process. as the Wall Street Journal writes.
“The war has changed the regime – and not for the better,” says Danny Citrinowicz, who formerly headed the Iran department of Israeli military intelligence, to the newspaper. “We have created a reality that is worse than what the Iranians faced before the war.”
Killed people replaced by radicals
The thrust of the regime under Khamenei’s son is made clear, among other things, by the replacement of the killed rulers. Ali Larijani, for example, is followed by Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr as national security chief. Zolghadr was previously a commander of the Revolutionary Guard and was said to have been responsible for training paramilitary units operating abroad. He wants to destroy Israel and annex its territory to Iran.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard has the streets of Tehran firmly under control.Image: keystone
After the killing of Mohammad Pakpour, head of the Revolutionary Guard, Ahmad Vahidi was deployed. Among other things, he is suspected of having planned the 1994 attack on a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires that left 85 dead.
“The extreme faction within the Revolutionary Guard is taking the lead,” Saeid Golkar, an expert on the Iranian security services at the University of Tennessee, told the Wall Street Journal.
More repressive than ever
Currently, reformers are increasingly being pushed out and radicals are moving in. Any uprisings are nipped in the bud using armed force and executions. The streets of Tehran are occupied by the Revolutionary Guard.
The mass protests in Tehran in January were met by the regime with mass executions.Image: keystone
“We are already seeing a significantly more repressive regime,” says Iran researcher Diba Mirzaei on “Markus Lanz”. She saw Ali Khamenei as someone who maintained the balance between the reformers and the Revolutionary Guard.
Donald Trump and Israel ultimately did a disservice to reformers in Iran by killing the supreme religious leader. “Now he is gone and the consequence is that the Revolutionary Guard in Iran makes political and military decisions.” (leo)