Reuters reports that two months after the start of the war with the United States and Israel, there is no longer a single, uncontested clerical authority at the top of Iran’s power structure.
According to sources cited by Reuters, Mojtaba Khamenei is at the top of the system, but his role is mainly to legitimize decisions made by his generals, rather than issuing direct orders.
Decision-making is said to be “fully” in the hands of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), with no actor within the system able to resist its authority.
The report added that since 1979, the Islamic Republic of Iran had been structured around a supreme leader with ultimate authority over all key state matters, but the killing of Ali Khamenei has created a different order in which IRGC commanders have taken control.
Reuters wrote that, in practice, the main interlocutor for the United States is now Ahmad Vahidi, the commander-in-chief of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
According to the report, Mojtaba Khamenei is wounded, has not appeared in public, and due to security concerns communicates only in a limited way through aides or via audio messages.
Sources said Khamenei owes his position to the Revolutionary Guard, which sidelined pragmatic factions and supported him as a reliable guardian of its hardline agenda.
The IRGC, which has gained greater power during the war, is now showing signs of a more aggressive foreign policy and “tighter domestic repression.”
